Four lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to consider placing Chinese biotech company WuXi AppTec and its subsidiaries on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, the Treasury Department’s Non-Specially Designated Nationals Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List and the Defense Department’s Chinese Military Companies List. They said the firm has close ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has been involved in perpetrating the CCP's human rights violations.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said Feb. 10 that he welcomes news that United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm Group 42 Holdings (G42) has sold its stake in Chinese companies.
Hesai Technology, the largest Chinese lidar company by sales, plans to sue the Pentagon for adding it to a list of companies with ties to China’s military (see 2402010018), the company announced Feb. 8. Hesai was added to the list “without any explanation or justification,” CEO Yifan Li said, calling the U.S. decision “unjust, capricious, and meritless.”
An investigation by the House Select Committee on China found that five U.S. venture capital firms have invested more than $3 billion in Chinese technology companies, many of which aid China’s military, surveillance apparatus and human rights violations, the committee said on Feb. 8.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 6 approved a bill that would designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization following the Yemen-based group’s recent attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Technology companies, trade groups, think tanks and researchers urged the government to be cautious as it evaluates its semiconductor-related export controls and prepares new ones, warning that misguided restrictions could cede American technology leadership to China, hurt the competitiveness of U.S. companies and raise the complexity of an already fraught compliance landscape.
Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., announced Jan. 31 that she has introduced a bill to revamp U.S. export control processes to make it harder for China and other “foreign adversaries” to obtain sensitive technology.
The U.S. may need to take stronger export control actions to stifle Chinese progress in artificial intelligence, including broader semiconductor-related restrictions, a U.S. congressional commission heard this week. But the commission was also warned about the dangers of overly broad controls on more emerging technologies, such as quantum, which experts said could hurt instead of help U.S. competition with China.
U.S. trade policy toward China should concentrate on protecting advanced technology, as opposed to completely decoupling from the Communist country, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Jan. 30.
As Josh Kagan leaves as assistant U.S. trade representative for labor, USTR Katherine Tai announced that Katy Mastman will replace him in an acting capacity. Tai said, "Josh’s leadership has been instrumental in our successful use of the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism and work to eradicate forced labor in supply chains."