'China Week' kicks off with US restrictions on Chinese biotech

'China Week' kicks off with US restrictions on Chinese biotech

The US House of Representatives is pursuing a string of bills aimed at reducing US reliance on Chinese tech and companies.

Among the first to pass was The Biosecure Act aimed at protecting the US medical supply chain by restricting federal governments from using several Chinese biotech firms within their contracts.

A vote is also expected to be held to decide whether Hong Kong's diplomatic offices in the US should be closed over concerns surrounding whether the special administrative region maintains strong enough autonomy from China.

Restricting political, economic and technological influence

Passing at a vote of 306-81, the Biosecure Act prevents US federal governments from contracting with five companies, listed as BGI Group, Complete Genomics, MGI, Wuxi AppTec and Wuxi Biologics. Existing contracts with these companies will not be halted until January 2032 after concerns were raised that it could result in a drug shortage in US hospitals.

The bill also faced limited Democrat opposition over whether there was any evidence that the companies on the list were causing harm to US markets, with Democratic congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts saying "If we're going to name companies, there ought to be a clear, transparent process."

After passing the House, the bill must next be approved by the Senate before being signed into law.

Closing the democratic offices of Hong Kong in the US, of which there are three, was proposed on the grounds that the region no longer operates under a "high degree of autonomy" from China. The bill's sponsor, Chris Smith, Republican of New Jersey, said, "At one time, the Hong Kong economic and trade offices in the United States represented a city whose prosperity was based on its protection of fundamental human rights and freedom of the Hong Kong people."

"But three years after the [Chinese Communist Party] imposed the national security law on Hong Kong ... the Hong Kong all of us knew, loved and respected, is gone," Smith continued.

An additional bill designed to protect US markets from Chinese-manufactured telecommunications and video equipment, dubbed the Countering CCP Drones Act, added DJI Technologies to a Federal Communications Commission national security list that restricts the any new products from being used on US infrastructure.

Via SCMP.

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benedict.collins@futurenet.com (Benedict Collins)
September 10, 2024 at 03:46PM
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