Members of Congress from both parties said they have initiated discussions with the administration on how to address the challenges posed by China, saying the Biden administration is now fully evaluating U.S. policy toward China and looking at all options. However, some Republican lawmakers are concerned that the new administration is not taking a strong enough stance on China by introducing a bill to ensure that Washington continues to maintain restrictions on Beijing, including a ban on the Commerce Department’s removal of huawei from its list of entities and a ban on Chinese companies on the Commerce Department’s list of entities from accessing U.S. capital markets.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) introduced the “Keep Huawei on the Entity List Act” on Wednesday (March 3).
The legislation would continue to impose export restrictions on Huawei and keep Huawei on the Commerce Department’s Entity List until it no longer poses a national security risk to the United States and is free from the control and influence of the Chinese Communist Party. A total of six Republicans have currently cosponsored this bill by Stoby.
In 2019, the Trump administration placed dozens of Chinese companies, including Huawei, on the Commerce Department’s list of entities that would prohibit these companies from acquiring U.S. technology.
“Huawei is one of the most powerful tools the Chinese Communist Party has at its disposal to spy on and potentially damage the United States,” Rep. Stobie said in a statement.
Stobie is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He believes the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it response from Gina Raimondo, who was just confirmed by the Senate to run the Commerce Department, to not explicitly say whether she would remove Huawei from the list of entities could be a sign that she may reverse the Trump Administration‘s ban on China. Stobie criticized the evasive attitude as showing the Biden Administration‘s weak stance on China, which would in turn harm U.S. national interests.
In a statement, Stobie said bluntly, “It should be basic common sense to keep Huawei on the entity list ban, and Commerce Secretary Raimondo’s refusal to commit to this simple decision is shocking and dangerous.”
This comes a day after the Senate voted 84 to 15 to approve Rhode Island Governor Raimondo as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The personnel nomination had been stalled for a Time when Republican lawmakers moved to hold it in abeyance.
Raimondo had vowed to protect U.S. telecommunications networks from Chinese companies during her confirmation hearing in late January, but she refused to commit to keeping Huawei on the Commerce Department’s list of entities.
Raimondo’s response was immediately met with strong criticism and backlash from congressional Republicans, and Raimondo added her position on Huawei to the Senate Commerce Committee in a written response after the hearing, stressing that she had “no reason to believe that the entities on the list should not remain there.
She said, “We should have no illusions about China’s goals, which I believe are to undermine America’s long-term technological advantage and displace the United States as the global leader in cutting-edge research and development and future industries.”
In addition to Huawei, there are concerns about whether Raimondo will continue the Trump administration’s efforts to block TikTok, the overseas version of ShakeYin, and WeChat, the overseas version of WeChat, owned by Chinese companies. Both measures were blocked in court and the Trump administration appealed. Last month, the Justice Department suspended the appeals pending the Biden administration’s consideration of the measures.
Executive Legislature Opens Discussions Republicans: Biden Administration Is Reconsidering China Policy
It is unclear, however, what the Biden administration will do with the ban on Chinese technology companies, including Huawei, TikTok, the overseas version of Jitterbit, and WeChat, the overseas version of WeChat, and other social media software.
Several bipartisan members of Congress told Voice of America that the executive branch has opened consultative discussions with Congress on how to deal with the challenges posed by China.
“I’ve had conversations with the U.S. national security adviser,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Voice of America, “and they’re looking at all the policies, but I’m not sure what the approach will be to these bans .”
Rubio said the U.S. has been in a position of exploitation by China for a long time and that these measures are critical to protecting U.S. national security in a variety of areas. “Ultimately, China’s goal is to steal technology secrets to advance the development of their programs. So we have to protect our own capabilities,” Rubio said.
Rubio further spoke of his hope that the executive branch will take the same position as he has, although it is unclear what the Biden administration will ultimately decide about the ban.
Sen. Rubio of Florida introduced the American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act on Wednesday, along with several Republicans. The co-sponsors include Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). Scott, R-FL).
The bill would prohibit Chinese companies listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List, or those listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having ties to the Chinese Communist Party military, including parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates and controlling entities, from entering the U.S. capital markets.
In a written statement, Rubio said, “The Chinese Communist Party’s use of the U.S. capital markets is a significant and ongoing risk to the U.S. economy and national security that must be addressed.”
He urged the Biden administration to support the bill and to further strengthen the previous administration’s efforts to address the issues at stake.
Congressional Foreign Affairs Leader: State Department Launches Government-wide Assessment of China Policy
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview with Voice of America that he has had conversations with Secretary Blinken about China and that the State Department is now conducting a comprehensive assessment of its China-related policies.
“There’s a comprehensive assessment going on right now of China-specific policies that encompass technology, trade, security issues, and also the digital authoritarianism that China is promoting, and the role that China plays at the United Nations, which is pretty broad in scope,” Menendez said. “It’s a whole-of-government look, and I applaud it because that’s exactly what we need, a complete set of whole-of-government strategies.”
Menendez, who is from New Jersey, also said he believes these bans on Chinese companies are also in the scope of the review, but he is not sure what the Biden administration will ultimately decide.
Rep. Michael McCaul’s (R-TX) office, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, responded to a Voice of America email that McCaul had held discussions with the administration on the China issue.
“When I spoke with Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan, they assured me that they too see the Chinese Communist Party as a key challenge for the 21st century,” McCaul’s office quoted the congressman as saying in an email response, “Overall, I look forward to working with the new administration on this important Overall, I look forward to working with the new administration on this important issue and hope they will be consistent in their words and actions going forward.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a Republican from Oklahoma, told VOA that there is a growing bipartisan sense of crisis in Congress about the China threat. He has also been in touch with the administration on the issue and has expressed hope that the new administration will continue some of the policies of the Trump era.
“We had a couple of correspondence and the issue of the ban (on Chinese companies) was part of the topic of our discussion,” Lankford said, “and of course they’re still putting together the personnel team right now, organizing it and then evaluating it.”
“We want to make it clear that there are policies that should not be discarded simply because they have a connection to Trump’s name. If it’s good policy, then it’s good policy and it should be kept in place,” Lankford said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released an updated report to Congress on Monday that said the Biden administration will use “all available tools” to combat China’s unfair trade practices. The Biden administration is currently conducting a comprehensive review of China’s trade policies.
The report further states that “the Biden Administration is committed to using all available tools to address a range of unfair trade practices in China that continue to harm American workers and businesses,” including intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and industrial subsidies.
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