By Thomas Stevenson – The Post Millennial
The Biden-Harris administration has come out against a bill that would ban Chinese Communist Party officials from buying up land in the United States if they are attempting to violate the autonomy of Hong Kong, increase aggression towards Taiwan, or contribute to human rights violations toward groups in China such as Uyghur Muslims.
According to a press release from the Biden-Harris White House, the “administration opposes H.R. 3334, [or] the ‘STOP CCP Act,’ which would impose mandatory sanctions and visa restrictions on members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party” who have sought the aforementioned actions regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Uyghur Muslim population in China.
The administration claims that the bill’s sanctions would “cut off any channels of communication between our two governments and undermine the Administration’s efforts to build diplomatic consensus on China, thereby destabilizing US-PRC relations.” The sanctions include blocking CCP officials from buying property in the US as well as making the officials ineligible for vias as well as admission into the US. However, the president may waive the sanctions for up to 60 days to allow CCP officials to come into the US for purposes he or she deems necessary for national security purposes.
The STOP CCP Act says that it would provide the “imposition of sanctions on members of the National Communist Party Congress of the People’s Republic of China” who have engaged in “sanctionable conduct.” The conduct includes violating “the autonomy of Hong Kong,” increasing “aggression towards the people of Taiwan,” or politically oppressing or violating the human rights of “individuals or societal groups within the People’s Republic of China, including Uyghur Muslims.”
The sanctions on the CCP officials can be terminated if the US president decides that the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party have “ceased the genocide of the Uyghur Muslim population,” “ceased all forms of threats, military exercises, and aggression toward Taiwan,” “ceased the undermining of the autonomy of Hong Kong,” and “ceased efforts to steal the intellectual property of United States persons,” among other requirements.
The Biden-Harris White House added that “it is imperative that flexible sanctions policy be preserved so that the Administration can hold PRC officials accountable as appropriate.”