US House clears a largely bipartisan package of bills to counter China

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — The U.S. House this week approved a sweeping package of bills to counter China’s influence, shoring up a largely bipartisan push to ensure America comes out ahead in the competition between the world’s superpowers.

The efforts would ban Chinese-made drones, limit China-linked biotech companies from access to the U.S. market, strengthen sanctions and deepen ties with Asian countries. The campaign to target Beijing this week shows how curbing China’s power has emerged as a rare issue of political consensus.

But some measures did pass along party lines, with Republicans arguing the need to protect national security when it comes to everything from education to farmland, and Democrats raising concerns about discrimination. The advocacy group Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote also warned about “overly broad anti-China rhetoric.”

One contentious measure seeks to revive a Trump-era program to root out Beijing’s spying in American universities and institutes. The bills all still need Senate approval.

“The House sent a powerful, bipartisan message to the Chinese Communist Party: the United States will not sit idly by,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington has said the measures would damage bilateral relations and U.S. interests. “China deplores and firmly opposes this and has lodged serious representations to the U.S. side,” spokesman Liu Pengyu said.

Here’s a look at key topics that the legislation focused on this week:

Tech dominated the measures, reflecting a “laser-focused” approach to limit the spread of Chinese technology in the U.S. and prevent Beijing from accessing American innovations, said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

The House backed a bill to prevent federal money from flowing to five biotech companies with Chinese ties, described as necessary to protect Americans’ health data and reduce reliance on China for U.S. medical supplies.

Another bill that cleared the House would outlaw, on national security grounds, devices from Chinese drone maker DJI, a dominant player in the global market.

“Allowing artificially cheap DJI drones to monopolize our sky has decimated American drone manufacturing and given our greatest strategic adversary eyes in our sky,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

To patch a loophole in export controls, the House backed an amendment that supporters say would cut off remote Chinese access — such as through cloud computing services — to advanced U.S. technology to develop artificial intelligence and modernize its military.

A bill passed along party lines would direct the Justice Department to curb spying by Beijing on U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions and go after people engaged in theft of trade secrets, hacking and economic espionage.

It’s House Republicans’ attempt to revive the China Initiative, a Trump-era program meant to curb China’s spying in U.S. universities and research institutes. It ended in 2022 after multiple unsuccessful prosecutions of researchers and concerns that it had prompted racial and ethnic profiling.

The measure “brings back the shameful China Initiative, which is the new McCarthyism,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. She criticized the program for assuming that “researchers and scholars in America should be investigated if they had a nexus with China, such as being born there or having relatives from there.”

Rep. Lance Gooden, a Texas Republican and bill sponsor, called racism claims baseless.

Another controversial bill would restrict federal funding to universities with cultural institutes funded by the Chinese government or programs linked to certain Chinese schools.

Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., called Beijing’s influence inside American schools “one of our nation’s most glaring vulnerabilities.” Fellow Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, argued the measure could shut down legitimate academic programs, such as exchange students, study-abroad opportunities, guest lectures and sports events.

Several Democratic lawmakers also raised bias concerns about a measure that flags as “reportable” land sales involving citizens from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran.

The bill also would add the agriculture secretary to the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment, which reviews the national security implications of foreign transactions.