NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance, along with Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08), Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Michael McCaul (R-TX-10), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Young Kim (R-CA-40), Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, today sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo after reports revealed that she is considering joining the Chinese government in a working group after her trip to China later this month.
The anticipated working group with the Chinese government would discuss export controls on advanced semiconductors, the very technology that Secretary Raimondo bears responsibility for keeping out of China’s reach. The lawmakers conveyed that it is deeply inappropriate for the U.S. foremost adversary to have any influence over controls on sensitive U.S. national security technologies that the American people charged her to protect.
“U.S. export control policy towards the [People’s Republic of China] should not be up for negotiation, period. Decisions on the nature and scope of U.S. export controls should be taken in Washington, not Beijing… It is time for U.S. officials to accept that the China has no intention of abandoning its policies that led to expanded U.S. export controls in the first place. In this vein, we urge you, prior to your trip, to publicly clarify that U.S. export controls are non-negotiable, and that the PRC should expect more, not less, U.S. export controls moving forward,” the members of Congress wrote.
A copy of the letter can be found here and below.
Dear Secretary Raimondo:
On July 31, 2023, Bloomberg News reported that a potential deliverable from your planned trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the establishment of a “working group” with the Chinese government to discuss U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors. As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance, we believe it is deeply inappropriate for the senior-most U.S. government official in charge of export controls to let the PRC influence in any manner—including be invited into working groups with China–U.S. national security controls on sensitive technologies.
U.S. export control policy towards the PRC should not be up for negotiation, period. Decisions on the nature and scope of U.S. export controls should be taken in Washington, not Beijing.
On August 1, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and Chinese Communist Party wrote to you about another alarming report that the U.S. Department of State is considering removing from the Entity List a PRC entity implicated in human rights abuses in exchange for yet another “working group.” For years, China has dangled working groups and other dialogue structures in front of U.S. officials as though they were a meaningful concession. It is time for U.S. official to stop taking the bait. The PRC has no intention of abandoning its Military-Civil Fusion strategy; no intention of allowing U.S. export compliance officers meaningful access to facilities in China; and no intention of abandoning its whole-of-nation effort to achieve independence from western “chokepoint” technologies. It also has no intention of abandoning its aggressive military buildup or its genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. And yet, U.S. officials continue to behave as if meaningful progress in U.S.-China relations is one “working group” away from a breakthrough.
It is time for U.S. officials to accept that the China has no intention of abandoning its policies that led to expanded U.S. export controls in the first place. In this vein, we urge you, prior to your trip, to publicly clarify that U.S. export controls are non-negotiable, and that the PRC should expect more, not less, U.S. export controls moving forward.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
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