Senate Foreign Relations Chair Reports Progress on Drafting China Bill

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said June 13 that he has made substantial progress in putting together a major China bill since he disclosed several months ago that he was developing such legislation.

“There’s been a lot of work done on that,” he told reporters in response to a question from Export Compliance Daily. “A significant percentage of it, we think, is ready for prime time, so we’re getting close on it.”

Cardin revealed in February that he was working with ranking member Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, to craft a “comprehensive” bill to address a wide range of concerns about China (see 2402010067).

While Cardin has not had a chance to review the new set of sanctions the Biden administration announced June 12 against Russia and countries that are supplying its war machine, including China (see 2406120036), he said he has been asking the administration to impose more sanctions on China over its Russia support.

The new sanctions are “consistent with our request that the administration have a more effective way of trying to prevent those who are trying to get around the sanction regimes, particularly as it relates to Russia,” Cardin said. China has “been a major partner to Russia’s ability to pursue” the Ukraine war.

Cardin’s other ongoing efforts include drafting a State Department authorization bill, most of which has been "pretty well" negotiated, and trying to find a response to the International Criminal Court’s threat to arrest senior Israeli officials over the war in Gaza (see 2406050037).

While outraged by the ICC’s action, Cardin said the House-passed ICC bill, which would sanction court officials (see 2406050037), “was not well drafted.” It was opposed by the Biden administration and by many House Democrats, including House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who said the bill could result in sanctions being imposed on U.S. allies that support the ICC with funding and staff.

Cardin hopes to find “a way forward that would give us the maximum leverage so the ICC does not go forward” with arrest warrants. "We're still working in that direction," he said. "I had conversations as recently as this week on those issues, and we're hopeful that will lead to a more positive way to deal with the ICC."