Tag: prc

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, will lead the task force. Waltz served on it last year. 

Rubio, who sits on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was the author of the “Tibetan Policy and Support Act." Leahy is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and is the president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. 

In their letter, the senators highlighted how “the U.S. solar industry sources large amounts of polysilicon and solar products from this region, where the use of forced labor is state-sanctioned and systematic.”

Other backs of the resolution include U.S. Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

“The bill would reinstate the policy in place before 2014, which granted People’s Republic of China (PRC) applicants one-year multi-entry visas. PRC applicants, some of whom engage in espionage and other malign activity, should undergo regular consular interviews and screening to ensure they have a legitimate reason to travel to the United States,” the senators’ offices noted. 

U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., sent a letter to Gov. Gina Raimondo, D-RI, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. Commerce secretary, following comments “suggesting that all aspects of the approach to U.S. economic and technological competition are up for review.”

The lawmakers expressed concern that the current rules will not effectively cut SMIC off from U.S. technology and innovation, risking our national security.

Rubio and McGovern asked the CEOs for a response to questions about their exports to the PRC, including whether they knew their technology would be used to support surveillance activities of the PRC police and security entities and whether they took steps to ensure that their products were not used for human rights abuses or to compromise U.S. national security.

Back in June, Rubio introduced the “Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act” with the support of U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Mary., Bob Menendez, D-NJ, Jeff Merkley, D-Oreg., and Todd Young, R-Ind. The bill “would provide those Hong Kongers who peacefully protested Beijing’s corrupt justice system, and have a well-founded fear of persecution, to be eligible for Priority 2 Refugee status” and is in “response to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) actions to implement its Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”

Rubio, who sits on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), led the letter which was also signed by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Ted Cruz, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wy., U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and other congressional members from both sides of the aisle.

This week, Rubio, who sits on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote U.S. Sec. of State Mike Pompeo on the matter, calling on him to send U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth Keith Krach to Taiwan to handle negotiations. Rubio also cheered the recent announcement that Taiwan will end its restrictions on American beef and pork.

Beijing has continually sought to extend its dominance over the region, including setting up an air defense zone in the sea and putting up several structures with war-making capabilities on an archipelago in the South China Sea.