Two US lawmakers -- one each from the Republican and the Democratic party -- on Wednesday reintroduced legislation in the House of Representatives to safeguard American assets from Chinese influence and possession, as well as protect American businesses from China's tools of economic aggression.
Reintroduced by Congressman Tim Ryan and Mike Conaway, the Fair Trade with China Enforcement Act is the companion legislation to a similar legislation introduced by Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio in the Senate.
"Our imbalanced trade relationship with China poses profound national and economic security risks to the United States. The bipartisan Fair Trade with China Enforcement Act would help correct our trade imbalances with China and give American workers a level playing field to compete and succeed," said Ryan.
This legislation would further strengthen the American position by safeguarding our assets from Chinese influence and possession, and blunting China's tools of economic aggression, he added.
"While the United States is operating in a 24-hour news cycle, China has a long-term plan reaching 50 to 100 years. We need to get ahead of the game and strengthen our economy, and this legislation will put us on that path forward," Ryan said.
Conaway said Beijing's 'Made in China 2025' initiative has made it clear that the Chinese government's objective is to drive American companies out of business and move their technology and jobs to China at any cost, including the use of illegal trade practices. This legislation takes the important step of barring the sale of national security sensitive US intellectual property and technology to China, as well as ensuring that China is paying its fair share in taxes, the lawmaker said.
"This bill also keeps the focus on the national security threats posed by Huawei and ZTE , as China frequently uses commercial technology as a vessel to spy on the US government. Allowing them access to our networks would be an enormous security risk and a massive mistake," Conaway said.
