The United States House of Representatives’ Special Committee on Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing on Thursday (September 19) titled “How the CCP Uses Law to Suppress Critics and Strengthen Governance.” Lawmakers warned the Biden administration that aside from suppressing dissent within China, the CCP is also using the U.S. judicial system to suppress scholars and institutions abroad, especially in the United States, in retaliation for their past criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party.
Chairman of the special committee, John Moolenaar, pointed out that the CCP has evidently extended its methods of suppressing dissent and controlling speech from within China to other countries, with an increasing impact on academia and individuals critical of the CCP overseas. He emphasized, “Over the past year, this committee has noted a worrying trend: researchers, business owners, and scholars who expose the truths about Chinese companies – whether it be regarding gene data theft, forced labor, or malicious trade practices – are suddenly facing baseless lawsuits.”
“The Chinese Communist Party, which suppresses freedoms domestically, is exporting its authoritarian control model globally,” he said.
Moolenaar stated that the CCP is utilizing various resources and tactics, including legal, political, and social pressure, to threaten and intimidate individuals and scholars with differing opinions.
He noted that the current mobilization is all about intimidating authors to keep them silent, calling it a clear case of legal warfare that must be stopped. Moolenaar said that this legal warfare is causing enormous economic burdens on American citizens and institutions, as they have to resist pressures from large Chinese corporations, false complaints, and the opponent’s well-funded legal team.
During the hearing, the committee’s ranking Democratic member, Raja Krishnamoorthi, sternly pointed out that the CCP is undermining the U.S. legal system, using American jurisprudence as a tool to suppress dissent. He stressed that such actions pose a serious threat to the fairness of American law and freedom of speech, calling for attention and countermeasures.
Krishnamoorthi stated, “The Chinese Communist Party is exploiting the fairness of our legal system to undermine our security.”
“First, the CCP and its affiliates are using U.S. courts and courts in other democratic countries to suppress critics and attack their adversaries. These entities can sue our companies, while it is extremely challenging for us to sue their companies, let alone their government,” he added.
Democratic Representative Anna Puglisi, who testified at the hearing, published an academic paper on May 9 this year regarding China’s biotechnology ecosystem, delving into how the CCP supports companies like BGI Genomics, Lunaphore, and Complete Genomics.
Her research findings included the following points:
After publishing her paper, she received threats from the mentioned companies, demanding that she retract her research report or face legal action.
Puglisi stated during the hearing, “BGI Genomics accused me of defamation in their letter, demanding that I and the Center for Security and Emerging Technology retract my paper, claiming inaccuracies in my content and insisting that I cease discussions on these analyses. Meanwhile, Lunaphore hoped for a change in my statements.”
Puglisi pointed out that this incident made her realize how the CCP uses legal means to suppress dissent and highlighted that these “legal actions” pose a serious threat to academic freedom and freedom of speech.
“The Chinese Communist Party has turned (American) law into a sword to strike at opponents and a shield to protect its interests,” Puglisi said, emphasizing that choosing silence in the face of threats and pressures would weaken the core values of a democratic society. “I know that speaking out today may put me at greater risk, but if we start self-censoring in accordance with the actions of an authoritarian regime, we will become more like them and less like an open democratic nation.”
Following the hearing, Dewey Murdick, CEO of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, released a statement expressing full support for the research report.
Puglisi published this report while serving as a senior researcher at the center.