WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) led Reps. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Michael Waltz (FL-06), Darrell Issa (CA-50), and Scott Franklin (FL-15) in introducing the China Initiative Accountability Report Act, legislation to direct the U.S. Attorney General to issue an annual report on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) activities related to countering Chinese national security threats.
The content of the report would include information on trade secret theft, theft of United States intellectual property and research, and threats from non-traditional collectors, such as researchers in laboratories, at universities, and at defense industrial base facilities. In light of the Department of Justice’s decision to scrap the China Initiative, which began under the Trump Administration, this report would provide an accounting of activities and resources the DOJ is utilizing to ensure it is still effectively countering the threat from China.
“It’s estimated that China’s theft of intellectual property costs the United States economy as much as $600 billion annually,” said Rep. Fitzgerald. “This is an unbelievable figure with severe national security implications. Although President Trump launched an initiative to counter these espionage efforts, unfortunately, President Biden ended the initiative to appease his politically correct base. This bill will take an important step in identifying the ever-growing threats from China and hold this Administration accountable to protect U.S. interests and continue the work President Trump spearheaded.”
“The Biden Administration is leaving our national security vulnerable to the malign influence of China. Even as the Chinese Communist Party is actively engaging in intellectual property theft and various forms of espionage on American college campuses, the Biden Administration caved to the woke agenda and foolishly abandoned the Trump Administration’s China Initiative. In this vacuum of information, the report this bill would create is essential. We must not fall behind in countering China’s intellectual property theft and malign actions,” said Rep. Stefanik.
“The Biden Administration is taking steps to decentralize and unravel the work of the Trump Administration to hold Chinese Communist Party’s theft of American intellectual property accountable,” said Rep. Waltz. “The CCP’s theft of American intellectual property is estimated to cost Americans between $225-600 billion every year and that ultimately bolsters the CCP’s military buildup. This bill would hold Biden’s Department of Justice accountable to the American people by requiring a full accounting of China Initiative efforts that have been discontinued or undone.”
“China’s wholesale theft of American innovation and intellectual property may not be new, but it has grown more frequent and more threatening during the Biden Administration. When it needs to support our inventors, creators, and developers, this White House has opted for big talk, but little action. I’m proud to stand with my Republican colleagues and take this decisive step towards needed – and overdue – accountability for what China is doing every day,” said Rep. Issa.
“China has no problem using corporate espionage as a part of their strategy to achieve global supremacy at the expense of Americans. For years, China has been stealing hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of trade secrets from American entrepreneurs and businesses. The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice China Initiative was an important step towards putting an end to this problem. The Biden Administration was wrong to cancel it. I’m proud to support the China Initiative Accountability Report Act, which will help Congress and the American public understand what the Department of Justice is doing to protect American ingenuity,” said Rep. Franklin.