The United States House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday (May 22) voted to pass the “Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act”, aiming to deter the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from conducting espionage activities targeting U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions.
On May 22, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee discussed the “Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act Bill”. During the verbal vote, the proposal received support from 15 Republican members, while 8 Democrats voted against it. The proposal will now be submitted for a full House vote.
Introduced by several Republican federal lawmakers in March last year, the proposal suggests establishing a “CCP Initiative” within the Department of Justice. The main goal is to counter foreign espionage activities targeting U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions, address issues such as commercial espionage, cyberattacks, and economic espionage. The initiative will also focus on safeguarding various critical U.S. infrastructure against threats from foreign direct investment and risks to the supply chain.
During the Trump administration, the “China Initiative” was launched, overseen by the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. The initiative aimed to eradicate Chinese espionage and prevent the theft of American technology by China. However, concerns and criticisms arose about “racial profiling” due to a higher proportion of Chinese faces among the suspects prosecuted. On February 23, 2022, the Department of Justice announced the termination of the initiative.
However, the bill passed by the Judiciary Committee this time specifies that it is aimed at the CCP’s actions, with a statement in the introduction clarifying that “CCP here refers to the Chinese Communist Party”.
On May 23, Chinese human rights lawyer residing in the U.S., Wu Shaoping, told NTD Television: “To some extent, this is an improvement on the ‘China Initiative’ during the Trump era. They changed it from ‘China Initiative’ to ‘CCP Initiative’. Through this action plan, it explicitly tells the world that the U.S. is targeting the CCP, not the Chinese people.”