Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on Friday to resurrect a program combatting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage that was terminated by the Biden administration.
If adopted, the Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act will establish a “CCP Initiative” in the Department of Justice’s National Security Division to “curb spying” from Beijing on U.S. “intellectual property and academic institutions,” according to the bill first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The CCP Initiative draws heavily from a similarly-named Trump administration program called the “China Initiative,” which the Biden administration ended in February 2022 after critics claimed it “fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias,” the DCNF previously reported.
The congressman introducing the bill, Texas Republican Rep. Lance Gooden, told the DCNF that the legislation will “ensure the U.S. government has the resources to expose, investigate, and prosecute those who seek to weaken America.”
“The CCP has stolen from our businesses, infiltrated our institutions, and undermined our economy for far too long,” Gooden said. “We must act now to defend our economy and national security from China’s aggression. Congress must send a clear message: America will not tolerate the CCP’s economic sabotage.”
Between February 2021 and August 2024, there were at least 59 “CCP-related” criminal cases in the U.S. allegedly related to bribery, hacking and theft of trade secrets, according to an October 2024 “China Threat Snapshot” released by the House Committee On Homeland Security’s Subcommittee On Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, And Intelligence.
The report found that approximately 80% of economic espionage prosecutions “allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state, and there is at least some nexus to China in around 60% of all trade secret theft cases.”
The proposed legislation is also backed by Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, Pat Fallon of Texas, and Mike Kennedy of Utah. In the Senate, the bill currently has the support of Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott.
“President Joe Biden recklessly ended the China Initiative that President Trump established during his first term, turning a blind eye as Communist China committed at least 60 known cases of espionage on the United States and our citizens during his administration,” Scott told the DCNF. “Now, President Trump is back in action to hold Communist China fully accountable for its exploitation of the United States. Our bill, the Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act, will bring back the successful China Initiative to help President Trump face this threat head-on and Make America Safe Again.”
“The [CCP] is one of the greatest threats to America’s national security and way of life as it seeks global domination by any means necessary,” Scott said.
[Image created by the DCNF]
As with the terminated China Initiative, the CCP Initiative would also aim to stop the Chinese government’s proxies from stealing U.S. intellectual property.
Specifically, the CCP Initiative would “develop an enforcement strategy concerning nontraditional collectors” operating as researchers in labs and universities that the Chinese government may be using to “transfer technology contrary to United States interests,” according to the bill.
In December 2024, the DCNF identified 50 federally-funded researchers currently working in U.S. universities and/or national laboratories who are listed as experts of Chinese government talent recruitment schemes. The FBI has warned that China’s “talent recruitment plans” incentivize participants to “steal foreign technologies needed to advance China’s national, military, and economic goals.”
Under the China Initiative, the Department of Justice successfully prosecuted federally-funded researchers on charges related to failure to disclose participation in malign Chinese talent recruitment plans. In December 2021, former Harvard University chemistry professor Charles Lieber was convicted of crimes related to concealing his participation in one such scheme called the Thousand Talents Plan from the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies funding his research.
The CCP Initiative would also seek to counter CCP technology transfer within the U.S. “defense industrial base,” the bill states.
The DCNF reported in February that U.S. defense contractor S&L Aerospace Metals LLC, which supplies parts for American military aircraft, is owned by Jerry Wang, a Chinese immigrant serving as an official within multiple CCP intelligence and influence agencies, according to Chinese government and state-run media outlets. Intelligence analysts told the DCNF that the CCP might potentially use such an individual to “copy military components, map out supply chain vulnerabilities, steal intellectual property, and even sabotage critical manufacturing.”
“The CCP Initiative aims to protect U.S. intellectual property, combat economic espionage, and safeguard infrastructure from foreign threats,” Rep. Tiffany told the DCNF. “The Biden administration shuttered this vital Trump-era initiative because they didn’t take the threat posed by the [CCP] seriously. That was a mistake, and one this bill seeks to correct.”
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