Senate Eying Bill To Block Chinese Biotech Companies, Accused of Aiding CCP’s Military, From Operating in America
Taxpayer dollars should no longer be funding ‘this urgent risk, which grows each day that these companies are permitted to continue aggressively expanding in the U.S. biotech market,’ Senator Hagerty tells the Sun.
Federal agencies could soon be blocked from contracting with Chinese biotech companies accused of granting the Chinese Communist Party access to the medical data of tens of millions of Americans.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on Wednesday on a bill to effectively ban Chinese biotechnology giants from operating in America. The bipartisan legislation would also prohibit Washington from opening contracts with companies that use their equipment or services.
This is the latest effort by members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to crack down on what they see as a national security threat posed by the cozy relationship between the feds and Chinese businesses. Congressman Mike Gallagher, who is chairman of the House select committee on China, has introduced a similar bill that accuses Chinese companies of colluding with Beijing’s military.
“PRC law requires any China-based company or its subsidiary to transfer data, even data collected in the United States, to the Chinese government at any time,” Senator Hagerty, who is sponsoring the bill on the Republican side, tells the Sun. He says that taxpayer dollars should no longer be funding “this urgent risk, which grows each day that these companies are permitted to continue aggressively expanding in the U.S. biotech market.”
The legislation initially failed to move out of the committee when it was introduced in early February by the chairman of the committee, Senator Peters, a Democrat. It has another chance of succeeding when it is considered this week. If it gains a stamp of approval from Mr. Peters’s team, it will then hit the floor of the Senate and could eventually become law.
The bill targets BGI Group, formerly Beijing Genomics Institute, which Reuters reported was aiding China’s military by collecting genetic data from millions of women to research population traits. The U.S. Department of Commerce export control list has marked units of BGI Group over allegations that they raise a “significant risk” of Chinese government surveillance.
Other companies in question include MGI, Complete Genomics, and WuXi AppTec, which provides drug R&D and manufacturing services. WuXi AppTec has denied collaborating with China’s military. Its shares immediately plunged 21.2 percent when the bill first made news in February.
