Biden Admin Should Prioritize, Strengthen China Export Controls, Bipartisan Commission Says

Congress and the incoming administration should strengthen and maintain a range of export controls and sanctions to prevent China from acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies and items used for repression, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China said in its 2020 annual report. The report and an executive summary, issued Jan. 14, urge the U.S. to continue to dedicate resources to restrict exports to China in order to prevent human rights violations.

The commission recommended new export controls over sales of emerging technologies -- including facial recognition systems, machine learning, and biometric and artificial intelligence technology -- to China’s Xinjiang region. The U.S. should also continue to place agencies and companies operating in the Xinjiang region on the Commerce Department’s Entity List and sanction Chinese officials responsible for forced labor camps in the region. These controls and sanctions will help prevent U.S. technologies from contributing to “likely atrocity crimes” committed by the Chinese government against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, the commission said.

The commission also urged Commerce to issue a report -- required by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (see 1911290012) -- to detail efforts by Chinese entities to “undermine” U.S. export controls and sanctions laws in Hong Kong. Along with the report, Commerce and other agencies should continue to block U.S. exports of police equipment and crowd-control technology to Hong Kong police, the commission said. Lawmakers should also hold public and private meetings with U.S. companies to “raise awareness of the risks” of crowd-control exports and surveillance technology exports to China.

Commerce said in July it was considering new license requirements on facial recognition software and surveillance-related items that may be used for crowd control reasons (see 2007160021). The agency was cautioned by industry about placing overly broad, unilateral restrictions on these items, which companies said could damage U.S. competitiveness (see 2010090044).

Congress and the administration should also work together to strengthen and improve COVID-19 pandemic-related supply chain issues involving personal protective equipment. This should include “appropriate” sanctions and export licensing restrictions for people and companies involved in forced labor programs to produce PPE, the report said.

Commissioners stressed that these Chinese issues must be at the forefront of the incoming Joe Biden administration’s foreign policy decisions. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., the chairman of the Commission, urged the new administration to “more effectively prioritize” human rights in bilateral discussions with China. Co-chairman Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Biden officials “must address [the Chinese Communist Party's] suffocating surveillance state and suppression of the Chinese people.” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said the ongoing repressions of ethnic minorities, pro-democracy groups and human rights lawyers, as well as citizens of Hong Kong, must be a “central” concern of the new administration.