US lawmakers target Chinese military firms helping Russia with bill imposing ‘full blocking sanctions’

Legislation comes amid alarm in Washington over volume of material moving from Beijing to Moscow and said to be turning up on battlefields in Ukraine
‘It’s time to put a financial cost on the CCP’s no-limits partnership with Russia,’ says outgoing chairman of key House select committee

US-China relations

Mark Magnierin New York

Published: 6:20am, 18 Apr 2024

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US lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bipartisan bill that would impose sanctions on any Chinese military firm that provides material support to Russia.

The legislation comes amid growing alarm in Washington over the volume of material moving from China to Russia that the State Department says helps prop up Moscow’s economy and is being used to produce weapons turning up on battlefields in Ukraine.

“Any company aiding and abetting the horrors in Ukraine – as the Chinese defence industrial complex has done – deserves to experience the full force of American sanctions,” said Republican congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, a bill cosponsor and outgoing chairman of the House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

“It’s time to put a financial cost on the CCP’s no-limits partnership with Russia.”

The bill, called the No Limits Act, would give Chinese military firms identified by the US government 180 days to withdraw from the Russian market before facing “full blocking sanctions”.

Other cosponsors include congressmen Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, and Jimmy Panetta, a California Democrat.

In recent years, the number of bills introduced in Congress relating to China has skyrocketed.

Between 2013 and 2021, these increased six-fold, according to Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, although relatively few become law.

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That is especially true of the current, highly fractious 118th session of Congress. In 2023, just 20 laws passed both houses and were signed by the American president, the fewest in decades.

That said, distrust of China is one of the few issues drawing bipartisan agreement.

The No Limits Act is likely to be the last legislation sponsored by Gallagher, 40, who is slated to retire from Congress at the end of the week. “When I ran, I knew this wasn’t going to be a career for me,” he said of his decision last month.

As outlined, the No Limits Act would direct the Defence Department to identify export-controlled technologies most at risk of diversion through China and impose a new and stronger nationwide control on them.

And it would grant the Commerce Department authority to deny any export license.

Republican congressman John Moolenaar of Michigan will succeed Mike Gallagher as chairman of the House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Photo: Bloomberg

It would also give US presidents authority to sanction any Chinese firm involved in military modernisation at their discretion.

At present the executive branch has limited sanctions authority to go after Chinese firms involved in military modernisation efforts, with most of its mandate now tied to human rights.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration was “incredibly concerned” about the flow of Chinese goods to Russia.

Miller added that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss the matter at a Group of 7 foreign ministers’ meeting later this week and during a planned trip to Beijing that could reportedly happen as early as April 23.

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“You can certainly expect that that is an issue that he would be expected to raise,” the spokesman.

Moolenaar, who will succeed Gallagher as chairman of the select committee, said China’s Communist Party and Russia “are working together to hurt America and our allies”.

“This legislation will increase sanctions on military firms in China that partner with Russia as well as those who are helping modernise China’s military,” he added.

“The American people will benefit from this legislation as it will make it more difficult for Russia and the CCP to work together against our country.”

Golden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing boundaries with his government’s invasion of Ukraine and that the bill was designed “to ensure there are consequences for [China] enabling Russia’s dangerous behaviour”.