On their first day back from summer recess, House lawmakers passed a series of China-related bills. Two notable pieces of legislation require the blacklisting of Chinese biotech firms and funding for the State Department to coordinate efforts against the Chinese regime’s malign influence.
Among other priorities, such as passing spending bills, the House voted in a bipartisan manner to add a “China Week” to the calendar. This widespread support reflects the consensus among Congress that the Chinese communist regime poses a significant national security risk to US values.
The 15 bills, most of which were fast-tracked with minimal debate and voice votes, focus on addressing two areas: technology and influence. Six bills aim to prevent China from breaching US security through insecure devices or predatory data collection. These include measures targeting Chinese drones, port cranes, and biotech companies collecting Americans’ genetic data.
Another four bills aim to support US global technological leadership by countering Chinese espionage and strengthening export controls. Two additional bills seek to reduce CCP influence both within and outside of the United States.
One bill that passed is called the Countering CCP Drones Act. It aims to restrict reliance on insecure Communist Chinese technology in American drone usage. The bill would require banning equipment from DJI, a Chinese company that dominates both public safety agencies’ drone usage in America and about 80% of its market share.
Another bipartisan bill called BIOSECURE Act prohibits federal government contracts with financing for not only Chinese but also other foreign adversaries’ biotech firms concerning companies like Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI Group), MGI, Complete Genomics, WuXi AppTec, and WuXi Biologics due to concerns over forced data transfers if ordered by CCP.
Lawmakers are concerned about China’s dominance in cutting-edge biotechnologies setting ethical standards favoring authoritarian socialist values while disadvantaging Western liberal democracies regulating technology differently. Therefore they want restrictions on financing for these firms as well as access restrictions on American data.
The Countering PRC Malign Influence Fund Authorization Act authorizes $325 million for State Department efforts against CCP’s malign influence defined as advancing an alternative international order bolstering CCP or undermining US national security.
