US bills targeting China AI and Hong Kong offices clear key House panel amid call for ‘bold new ideas’
- Additional legislation would bolster American cooperation with India, Japan and Australia as part of Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy
- Bills authorising further action meant to protect human rights of China’s Tibetan and Uygur populations also pass
None of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s 51 members voted “no”, according to an electronic poll held later in the day on some of the bills.
The results underscored strong bipartisan interest in Washington in sending a message to Beijing, despite recent closer engagement between Biden administration officials and their Chinese counterparts.
Biden’s executive order targets “semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems”.
“Whether it’s [US]$1 or $1 billion, US investors should not be involved in these hi-tech areas that will shape and define the future,” McCaul said during a committee mark-up hearing.
Describing the legislation as “the strongest countering China bill ever”, McCaul added: “The time now calls for bold new ideas instead of old failed approaches.”
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The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act would require the White House to “remove the extension of certain privileges, exemptions and immunities” to the offices if it decided that Hong Kong no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy from Beijing.
Sponsored by Republican congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, the bill was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is now expected to go to the full chamber for a vote.
In response, the Hong Kong government on Wednesday condemned Congress for “gross interference”, calling the bill “factually wrong”.
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Assuming both chambers pass the bill and Biden signs it, the American leader would be required to explain to Congress why the city’s offices in the US should retain or lose their diplomatic privileges, which were granted under the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992.
The city’s three representative offices in the US – in Washington, New York and San Francisco – would be required to close within 180 days if the president opted for decertification.
Both versions of the legislation include a “disapproval resolution” clause that would allow Congress to override the president’s assessment and force the offices to close.
Introduced in September by Meeks, the Strengthening the Quad Act seeks to upgrade the grouping by establishing an inter-parliamentary working group to enhance dialogue between the legislatures of the four member countries.
The Quad was established in 2004 for humanitarian and disaster relief efforts, but remained largely dormant until 2017.
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The legislation would provide the informal grouping sustained support in all four member states, ensuring it was well resourced, he added.
Though the Biden administration has claimed that the Quad is aimed at “maintaining peace and stability” in the Indo-Pacific, Beijing has criticised it as a “small clique” that is “bent on provoking confrontation”.
Without naming China, the Strengthening the Quad Act calls on the US to expand cooperation on issues such as freedom of navigation and overflight, the peaceful resolution of disputes as well as democratic resilience in the Indo-Pacific.
It also urges the US to ensure that the region is “free from undue influence and coercion”.
Despite assertions that the Quad had no military dimensions, Democratic congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia said it would not be “effective” if China had “nothing to fear”. Connolly called on America’s partners to invest in their own militaries.
“That’s the whole point of the Quad,” said Connolly on Wednesday. “It’s not a unilateral American action.”
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Earlier this year, the panel approved authorisation to sell up to two nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines to Australia under Aukus. McCaul hoped Congress would pass the measure as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorisation bill.
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While the US does not make any territorial claims there, it has repeatedly challenged Chinese assertions of sovereignty through its freedom-of-navigation operations.
As Beijing’s infrastructure initiatives are another area of concern for Washington, the proposed legislation involving the Quad asks member countries to collaborate with global and regional financial institutions to back competitive, transparent, and sustainable development and infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific.
Human rights were another focal point for the committee on Wednesday.
The legislation would make it official US policy that “Tibet” refers to not only the autonomous region as defined by the Chinese government but also the Tibetan areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.
While Washington considers Tibet part of the People’s Republic of China, it does not hold that Beijing’s control over the region is consistent with international law.
The Uygur Policy Act of 2023, also approved on Wednesday, would appoint a “special coordinator for Uygur issues” in the US State Department.
It would authorise funding for human rights advocates to speak in countries that are part of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, an intergovernmental group comprising mostly majority-Muslim countries.
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The Chinese government has repeatedly denied the existence of such camps, claiming the facilities are “vocational training centres” aimed at responding to the threat of religious extremism.
Flanked by pro-democracy activists from the Hong Kong, Uygur and mainland Chinese communities, Republican congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the committee’s chair, said: “There comes a point when tyranny becomes so obvious, and the censorship so overbearing, that slogans, arguments [and] manifestos are no longer even needed.”
“All you need is a blank sheet of paper.”