Chairman John Moolenaar of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and Senator Rick Scott have sent a letter to Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler. In their correspondence, they thanked the administration for efforts to protect U.S. national security from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The lawmakers called on the Department of Commerce to reverse a decision made during the Biden administration that removed China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) from the Entity List. The IFS had previously been placed on this list in 2020, during President Trump’s first term, due to its role in surveillance and abuses against Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang.
According to Chairman Moolenaar and Senator Scott, “Recently, we led the introduction of the Confronting CCP Human Rights Abusers Act to re-designate the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List. This designation was previously made by President Trump in 2020 during his first term in direct response to IFS’ central role in the surveillance, internment, and abuse of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). This designation ensured that BIS would need to issue a license for most exports of controlled items to the IFS, thereby restricting the flow of sensitive American technology that could be used in the CCP’s campaign of repression. However, this decision was foolishly reversed by the Biden administration in exchange for false promises of cooperation from the CCP on the fentanyl crisis, which was not accompanied by any evidence that the IFS had ceased its involvement in the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses. The IFS continues to play a key role in Communist China’s surveillance state, enabling mass internment, forced labor, and high-tech oppression through biometric data harvesting and forensic tracking.”
They urged action through an interagency group known as End User Review Committee (ERC), stating: “Given the IFS’ continual and well-documented abuses, we encourage BIS to work through the End User Review Committee (ERC) to investigate and re-add the IFS to the Entity List. As we continue working to pass the Confronting CCP Human Rights Abusers Act to put this action into law, ERC is uniquely positioned to ensure that U.S. technology and expertise do not contribute to CCP’s machinery of oppression and genocide.”
In closing their letter they wrote: “Thank you for your continued leadership and for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your response and working together to ensure that United States remains a beacon for human rights and rule of law.”
The request comes as Congress continues debate over how best to respond https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7897/text?s=1&r=2&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Confronting+CCP+Human+Rights+Abusers+Act%22%5D%7D with legislation such as H.R.7897—the Confronting CCP Human Rights Abusers Act—which aims at re-designating organizations like IFS due their involvement with human rights violations.
