To prevent President Biden from agreeing to Beijing’s reportedly demand that the U.S. ease human rights sanctions on China in return for cooperation on fentanyl trafficking, Republicans in the House are considering opposing the deal.
In a letter to the Biden administration, Representative Young Kim (R-Calif.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas), and China Select Committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) argued that the Chinese Communist Party was using the lives of American citizens as leverage to secure sanctions relief for its human rights abuses.
The signees said that they had written to both Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The letter referred to a Wall Street Journal article claiming that Chinese authorities had asked for some economic consequences related to the CCP’s human rights violations to be lifted. In exchange, Beijing has promised to help the United States combat its growing fentanyl problem. They also warned that if the talks continue in that vein, Congress may take action to thwart the effort.
In light of the tragic number of Americans who have lost their lives to fentanyl overdoses, the letter requests that the Administration routinely include our offices to hold the PRC responsible for these commitments. To work with China, we cannot have export restrictions or sanctions lifted, and lawmakers are considering legislation to stop the administration from going around them.
On June 5, 2020, the Institute of Forensic Science under China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) was added to the Entity List by the Department of Commerce due to its involvement in human rights breaches and abuses in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). This exemplifies the CCP’s continual efforts to link seemingly unconnected issues as a negotiating technique and utilize diplomatic involvement to reward what the CCP deems ‘good conduct.’
According to official papers, the Trump administration placed sanctions on the institution in 2020 because of China’s campaign of repression, including arbitrary imprisonment, forced labor, and high-tech monitoring against members of Muslim minority groups such as the Uighurs, Kazakhs, and others.
Thousands of Americans might lose their lives to fentanyl, according to Republican politicians, all because China is allegedly trying to decrease punishments, and the Biden administration is doing nothing to dissuade them.
