Reuters quoted U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, as saying that lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties will again introduce a bill to counter the Chinese Communist Party‘s censorship of U.S. corporate speech.
The Chinese Communist government has been pressuring U.S. companies in recent years to support Beijing‘s political stance, affecting industries such as hotels, airlines and producers. Reuters quoted Merkley as stating, “We must monitor and respond to the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship and intimidation of Americans and our companies, develop a strategy to preserve the cornerstone of free speech, and hold accountable those who suppress and destroy it.”
Members of Congress who support the bill, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Republican Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas). Some lawmakers had introduced a similar bill in 2019, but things didn’t move forward that year.
The newly proposed vetting bill would direct the president of the United States to establish an agency and task force under the National Security Council to oversee and address acts of censorship or intimidation of Americans and U.S. companies by the Chinese Communist Party. The bill would also require regular reports with recommendations for “industries of particular importance to free speech,” including the media and film industries.
Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr criticized major U.S. companies last year for acting as lobbyists for Beijing, saying the Communist Party was pressuring them to protect Beijing, and Barr accused Hollywood studios such as disney of self-censorship in their films to curry favor with the Communist Party.
In 2019, Daryl Morey, then general manager of the NBA team Houston Rockets, posted on a social media platform in support of Hong Kong‘s “anti-Send China” campaign, and China’s major media blocked the Rockets, and only in January this year did Tencent Sports resume live coverage of the Rockets vs. The game is rumored to be resumed by CCTV next month. As early as 2018, the Chinese government forced several airlines to change their official website settings, warning them that they could not list Taiwan as a “country”.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also said Tuesday that he has asked lawmakers to develop a plan of measures to counter the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, making full use of the current bipartisan atmosphere of toughness against Beijing in Congress to strengthen the U.S. technology sector and counter unfair practices of the Chinese Communist Party.
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