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In recent years, lawmakers from both parties have called out intellectual property theft by China that annually costs American companies hundreds of billions of dollars. File photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
License PhotoFeb. 28 (UPI) — Three U.S. House panels will convene Tuesday for hearings to examine the increasing national security threat posed by China amid rising tensions between the world’s two biggest superpowers.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Committee on Science, Space and Technology is expected to address increasing competition with Beijing, as well as China’s growing influence on the world stage in new technologies and scientific advances, while the communist government has also accelerated its ability to plunder secrets from its main archrival, the United States.
The hearing comes one day after the White House informed federal agencies that they have 30 days to remove TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, from all government devices amid mounting fears that U.S. secrets may end up in the hands of Chinese Communist Party courtesy of the social media platform.
Separately, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is considering a series of legislation designed to curtail China’s technological progress in America, including one bill sponsored by Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, that would allow President Joe Biden to sanction or ban TikTok and other software.
The proposal appears poised to advance and would supplant several similar provisions already in committee in the House and Senate.
McCaul’s bill would for the first time expose TikTok and other Chinese entities to federal sanctions if they are found to have engaged in covert activities including the transfer of “sensitive personal data” from app users throughout the world.
“Currently the courts have questioned the administration’s authority to sanction TikTok. My bill empowers the administration to ban TikTok or any software applications that threaten U.S. national security,” McCaul said Monday in a statement on the matter.
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning blasted the American TikTok ban when asked about China’s stance on the matter at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“How unsure of itself can the world’s top superpower be to fear a young people’s favorite app like that?” Ning responded. “The U.S. has been over-stretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress foreign companies. We firmly oppose those wrong actions. The US government should respect the principles of market economy and fair competition, stop suppressing the companies and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the U.S.”
The House Select China Competition Committee also plans a separate hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday in which two national security advisers under former President Donald Trump will provide testimony on China’s global competitive strategy.
Lawmakers from both parties have called out intellectual property theft by China that annually costs American companies hundreds of billions of dollars.
The hearings are being closely watched weeks after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon after the contraption drifted for days across the United States. The audacious breach of U.S. airspace led Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to cancel a planned visit to Beijing the same week, and infuriated lawmakers on Capitol Hill who called on President Joe Biden to take immediate punitive actions against China.
More recently, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Beijing against sending weapons to Russia amid speculation that China was preparing to help its regional partner in the Ukraine war.
“We will watch carefully, we will be vigilant, and we will continue to send a strong message that we believe that sending military aid to Russia at this time, when they are using their weapons to bombard cities, kill civilians and commit atrocities, would be a bad mistake, and China should want no part of it,” Sullivan said.
