The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Rhode Island Governor Raimondo as Commerce Secretary due to Raimondo’s unclear position on huawei. On Wednesday (March 3), Republican members of Congress introduced a bill to introduce legislation that would force the Biden administration to keep Huawei on the Commerce Department’s list of entities.
Florida Congressman Greg Steube (R-Fla.) introduced the Keep Huawei on the Entity List Act on Wednesday, legislation that would continue to impose export controls on Huawei and keep Communist Party-affiliated The legislation would continue to impose export controls on Huawei and keep Huawei on the Entity List, which is affiliated with the Communist Party of China.
Stobie said, “Huawei is one of the most powerful tools used by the Chinese Communist Party to conduct espionage and potentially sabotage operations against the United States.”
Stobie is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He believes the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it response from Gina Raimondo, the just-confirmed Senate nominee for commerce secretary, who wouldn’t explicitly say whether she would remove Huawei from the list of entities, could be a foreshadowing that reveals she could reverse the Trump administration ban.
Stobie said the evasive attitude shows the Biden Administration‘s weak stance on China (the Communist Party of China), which will in turn hurt U.S. national interests.
“It should be common sense to keep them on the (Commerce Department) entity list. U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo’s refusal to take this simple step is both frightening and dangerous. Our legislation takes this national security risk seriously; and calls on our colleagues in Congress and the Administration to stand firm on our commitment to take a tough stance against the Communist Party of China.” He said.
Federal Representatives Matt Gaetz (D-CA), Michael Waltz (D-CA), Brian Babin (D-CA), Randy Weber (D-CA) and Rick Crawford (D-CA) are co-sponsors of the bill. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) also joined the group.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 84 to 15 to approve Rhode Island Gov. Raimondo as commerce secretary.
Earlier this year in February, Stobie joined other Republican lawmakers in calling for a suspension of Raimondo’s confirmation hearings as commerce secretary until she explicitly commits to keeping Huawei on the list of entities. White House press secretary Jen Psaki also sidestepped the issue of Huawei in a press briefing.
On Thursday, 60 percent of respondents expect the new Biden administration to achieve positive results on the diplomatic front, but when it comes to China, only 53 percent of Americans believe President Biden will be able to implement these policies, despite the series of strategies he has prescribed for China, according to a Pew survey.
The Wall Street Journal analyzed that Americans’ skepticism of Biden’s approach to China largely reflects their high level of distrust of Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, whom only 15 percent of Americans believe will “do the right thing” in global affairs.
In late January, Raimondo refused to commit to keeping Huawei on the Commerce Department’s list of entities during his confirmation hearings.
Historically, there have been bipartisan calls to keep Huawei on the Commerce Department’s list of sanctioned entities until the Commerce Secretary certifies that the company no longer poses a national security threat.
Stobie’s press release also said that the “Keep Huawei on the Entity List Act” follows his recent reintroduction of the CCP Visa Disclosure Act. “The CCP Visa Disclosure Act was introduced to reform the student visa application process to prevent intellectual property theft. The legislation requires foreign nationals applying for certain U.S. visas to state whether they have received funds from the Chinese Communist government or the CCP.
Recent Comments