WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a sweeping package of legislation to curb Chinese influence, backing a largely bipartisan initiative designed to give America a leg up in the competition among the world’s superpowers.
The efforts aim to ban Chinese-made drones, limit China-linked biotech companies’ access to the U.S. market, tighten sanctions and deepen ties with Asian countries. The campaign aimed at Beijing this week shows that limiting China’s power has become a uncommon political consensus.
Some measures, however, passed along party lines, with Republicans arguing the need to protect national security in everything from education to farmland, and Democrats raising concerns about discrimination. The advocacy group Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote also warned against “overly broad anti-China rhetoric.”
One controversial measure aims to revive a Trump-era program designed to stamp out Beijing’s spying at American universities and institutes. The bills all still need Senate approval.
“The House of Representatives has sent a strong, bipartisan message to the Chinese Communist Party: The United States will not stand idly by,” said Republican Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said the measures would harm bilateral relations and US interests. “China regrets this, firmly opposes it and has raised serious objections with the US side,” said spokesman Liu Pengyu.
Here’s a look at the key issues the legislature focused on this week:
technology
The measures have focused primarily on technology issues, reflecting a “laser-focused” approach aimed at limiting the spread of Chinese technology in the United States and preventing Beijing from accessing American innovations, said Craig Singleton, senior China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.
The House of Representatives has approved a bill that would block the flow of federal funds to five biotechnology companies with ties to China. This step is necessary to protect American health data and reduce the United States’ dependence on the supply of medical products from China.
Another bill that passed the House of Representatives would ban equipment made by Chinese drone maker DJI, a dominant player in the global market, on national security grounds.
“By allowing artificially cheap DJI drones to monopolize our skies, we have decimated American drone production and given our greatest strategic adversary eyes in our skies,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
To close a loophole in export controls, the House of Representatives has supported an amendment that, according to its supporters, would prevent Chinese remote access – such as through cloud computing services – to advanced U.S. technology used to develop artificial intelligence and modernize the military.
Spying in schools
A bill passed along party lines would direct the Justice Department to curb Beijing’s spying on American intellectual property and academic institutions and to crack down on individuals involved in trade secret theft, hacking and economic espionage.
It is an attempt by House Republicans to revive the China Initiative, a Trump-era program designed to curb China’s spying on U.S. universities and research institutes that ended in 2022 after several unsuccessful prosecutions of researchers and concerns that it had led to racial and ethnic profiling.
The measure “brings back the shameful China Initiative, which is the new McCarthyism,” said Democratic Representative Judy Chu of California. She criticized the program because it assumes that “researchers and scientists in America should be investigated if they have a connection to China, such as being born there or having relatives from there.”
Texas Republican and lawmaker Lance Gooden called the allegations of racism unfounded.
Another controversial bill would limit federal funding for universities with Chinese government-funded cultural institutes or programs affiliated with certain Chinese schools.
Republican Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi called Beijing’s influence on American schools “one of our country’s most glaring weaknesses.” His Democratic colleague Bennie Thompson of Mississippi argued that the measure could disrupt legitimate academic programs such as exchange programs, study abroad opportunities, guest lectures and sporting events.
Farmland and electric cars
Several Democratic lawmakers also raised concerns about the bias of a measure that labels land sales to citizens of China, North Korea, Russia and Iran as “reportable.”
The bill also appoints the Secretary of Agriculture to the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment, which reviews the national security implications of foreign transactions.
China is “quietly buying American farmland at an alarming rate and this bill is a critical step toward reversing that trend,” said Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state.
The National Agricultural Law Center estimates that 24 states prohibit or restrict undocumented foreign nationals, foreign companies or governments from owning private farmland. The interest arose after a Chinese billionaire bought more than 130,000 acres near a U.S. Air Force base in Texas and another Chinese company wanted to build a corn factory near an Air Force base in North Dakota.
The House also narrowly approved an attempt to exclude Chinese electric cars from the tidy vehicle tax credit. “American working families should not be forced to subsidize a country whose decades of unfair trade practices and government subsidies have led to job losses, factory closures, and the hollowing out of communities here,” said Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri.
Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan said the bill’s “unclear limitations” would make it unworkable and “force the auto industry and battery makers to withdraw their investments in the United States.”
diplomacy
The House of Representatives supported several measures to tighten sanctions against China and deepen relations with Asia-Pacific countries to counter China’s influence.
One possibility would be to close Hong Kong’s missions in the United States by withdrawing diplomatic privileges if the territory lost its autonomy from mainland China.
To deter Chinese aggression against the self-governing island of Taiwan, a draft law provides for access to the assets of Chinese officials and their immediate families.
In a resolution addressing concerns about Beijing’s growing military influence, the House of Representatives is made aware of the importance of cooperation with South Korea and Japan.
