In a statement issued recently by Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, he said that the Countering Communist China Act treats China as a real threat to U.S. interests, instead of shying away from this as past legislation has done.
“State Department bureaucrats and big business interests have doubled down time and time again on naive policies that have made China’s Communist Party elites, military, and espionage apparatus richer, more powerful, more oppressive, and more dangerous than ever as they engage in systematic human rights abuses, slavery, and genocide," said Tiffany. "The Countering Communist China Act is an important step toward reversing this destructive trend by treating the threat Communist China poses to America’s national security and economic security seriously.”
Tiffany is a cosponsor of the act. It aims to counter China's influence and theft of IP. The legislation would put into place new guidelines that would require the declassification of information related to the origin of COVID-19. It would also call into question whether it was used as a biological weapon by China. The bill also seeks to hold China accountable for its human rights violations.
President Biden signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which took effect in June. This Act was designed to hold China accountable for genocide in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, but many experts have called into question whether it is actually being enforced or whether China has taken it seriously.
"The implementation will be contested, just as everything Xinjiang-related was contested last year," Michael Sobolik, a fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, said. "The mechanics are different, but the battle remains the same: climate interests pitted against human rights concerns.”
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State John Kerry stated that the US should prioritize building a relationship with China to further climate change causes over the violations of human rights.
"Well, life is always full of tough choices, said Kerry. "Yes, we have issues, a number of different issues, but first and foremost, this planet must be protected."
Also sponsoring the legislation are Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks and 33 other original cosponsors. The bill has been forwarded to 14 different House committees to be considered.
