Congress Takes Up Bills Targeting China09/09 06:09

   How to curb and counter China's influence and power -- through its biotech 
companies, drones and electric vehicles -- will dominate the U.S. House's first 
week back from summer break, with lawmakers taking up a series of measures 
targeting Beijing.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- How to curb and counter China's influence and power -- 
through its biotech companies, drones and electric vehicles -- will dominate 
the U.S. House's first week back from summer break, with lawmakers taking up a 
series of measures targeting Beijing.

   Washington views Beijing as its biggest geopolitical rival, and the 
legislation is touted as ensuring the U.S. prevails in the competition. Many of 
the bills scheduled for a vote this week appear to have both Republican and 
Democratic support, reflecting strong consensus that congressional actions are 
needed to counter China.

   The legislation "will take meaningful steps to counter the military, 
economic and ideological threat of the Chinese Communist Party," said Rep. John 
Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party 
and a Michigan Republican. "There's a bipartisan goal to win this competition."

   Advocacy groups worry about the impact, warning against rhetoric that hurts 
Asian Americans and could create "an atmosphere of guilt by association or fuel 
divisiveness," said Christine Chen, executive director of Asian & Pacific 
Islander American Vote.

   The Chinese Embassy in Washington called the legislation "new McCarthyism" 
that hypes the tensions in an election year. If passed, the bills "will cause 
serious interference to China-U.S. relations and mutually beneficial 
cooperation, and will inevitably damage the U.S.'s own interests, image and 
credibility," spokesman Liu Pengyu said in a statement.

   Among the bills are efforts to reduce U.S. reliance on Chinese biotech 
companies, ban Chinese EVs and drones, restrict Chinese nationals from buying 
farmland, toughen export restrictions and revive a program to root out spying 
on U.S. intellectual property.

   If approved, the measures would still need to clear the Senate. Here's a 
look at the key legislation:

   Targeting Beijing-linked biotech

   A bill seeks to ban a group of five biotechnology companies with Chinese 
ties from working with anyone that receives federal money.

   The companies include those that work to help doctors detect genetic causes 
for cancer or do research and manufacturing for American drugmakers, considered 
a key step in developing new medications.

   America's biotech companies have said the bill would disrupt their 
partnerships with Chinese contractors, resulting in delays in clinical trials 
for new drugs and higher costs.

   Supporters say the legislation is necessary to protect U.S. health care data 
and reduce the country's reliance on China for its medical supply chain.

   "American patients cannot be in a position where we rely on China for 
genomic testing or basic medical supplies," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio 
Republican who sponsored the bill. He called it "the first step" in protecting 
Americans' genetic data.

   BGI, one of the Chinese companies named in the bill, called it "a false flag 
targeting companies under the premise of national security." The company, which 
offers genetic sequencing for research purposes in the U.S., said it follows 
the law and has no access to Americans' personal data.

   Banning Chinese drones

   Another bill would dub drones made by the Chinese company DJI, which 
dominates the global drone market, "an unacceptable risk to U.S. national 
security" and cut its products from U.S. communications networks over data 
security concerns.

   The bill would protect Americans' data and critical infrastructure, said 
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who introduced it. "Congress must 
use every tool at our disposal to stop" China's "monopolistic control over the 
drone market," she said.

   DJI argues that users have to "opt in" to share data such as flight logs, 
photos and videos with the company. If users don't do so, the company said it 
won't have data to share with any government when compelled. It also has 
rejected allegations that it is a Chinese military company and has aided the 
persecution of members of ethnic Muslim minorities.

   Adam Bry, co-founder and CEO of major U.S. drone maker Skydio, told a 
congressional committee in June about losing business to China, where "the 
Chinese government has tried to control the drone industry, pouring resources 
into national champions and taking aim at competitors in the U.S. and the West, 
tilting the playing field in China's favor."

   Protecting intellectual property

   A challenge is likely against an attempt to revive a Trump-era program 
described as a way to stop Chinese efforts to steal intellectual property and 
spy on industry and research.

   The bill would direct the Justice Department to curb spying by Beijing on 
U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions and go after people 
engaged in theft of trade secrets, hacking and economic espionage.

   The Trump-era program, called the China Initiative, ended in 2022 after 
multiple unsuccessful prosecutions of researchers and concerns that it had 
prompted racial and ethnic profiling. Critics also say it chilled cooperation 
between the U.S. and China in science and technology meant to benefit the 
greater good.

   "Our colleagues in the Republican Party sought to reinstate this failed 
program because they wanted to look like they were solving problems. But in 
reality, they were only stoking fear and hatred," several Democratic lawmakers 
said in a statement in March, when they fought off another effort to restart 
the program.

   Restricting farm sales

   Another bill, which says it will protect U.S. farmland from foreign 
adversaries, has raised concerns about discrimination.

   It would add the agriculture secretary to the U.S. Committee on Foreign 
Investment, which reviews the national security implications of foreign 
transactions. The bill also flags as "reportable" land sales involving citizens 
from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran.

   "Food security is national security, and for too long, the federal 
government has allowed the Chinese Communist Party to put our security at risk 
by turning a blind eye to their steadily increasing purchases of American 
farmland," said Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington state, who 
introduced the bill.

   The National Agricultural Law Center estimates 24 states ban or limit 
foreigners without residency and foreign businesses or governments from owning 
private farmland. The interest emerged after a Chinese billionaire bought more 
than 130,000 acres near a U.S. Air Force base in Texas and another Chinese 
company sought to build a corn plant near an Air Force base in North Dakota.