Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) reintroduced a bill targeting China this week to mark the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests on Saturday.
The bill, titled the China Technology Transfer Control Act, prevents China’s military from acquiring sensitive technology and intellectual property that belongs to the United States, through export controls.
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“Thirty-four years ago, the Chinese Communist Party massacred peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square. Since this horrific event, the CCP has used its advanced technology to erase its own history; and, with it, its misdeeds,” Green said in a statement. “This is why we must be cautious about the technology we export to China. We must ensure we aren’t giving the CCP the tools to harm our nation or its own people.”
Technologies or intellectual property covered under the new bill includes those that contribute heavily to the Chinese military to the detriment of United States national security; those that are included in a designated list of product components compiled by the U.S. Trade Representative; or are used by China to violate human rights or religious liberties such as those used to monitor the country’s Muslim population.
“We know that Communist China uses technology to track and surveil Uyghur Muslims, but its malign reach goes even beyond that,” Green told the Washington Examiner. “American technology should never be used to contribute to Xi Jinping’s tyrannical regime. With the China Technology Transfer Control Act, American technology won’t in anyway be complicit in the genocide of the Uyghur people.”
The Tiananmen Square protests, which began on April 15, 1989, centered on a call for less censorship by the Chinese government and greater freedom. But the protests, which stretched on for over a month, ended in a massacre by the Communist party on June 4 when tanks and troops opened fire and crushed protesters.
Official reports from China claim that 200 civilians were killed in the protests, but historians believe the real number is much higher, ranging from hundreds to thousands. Western leaders condemned the government’s brutal response to an otherwise peaceful protest.
China is again witnessing widespread condemnation from the Western world for its treatment of Uyghurs, a minority religious and ethnic group. Human Rights groups have claimed that the mistreatment of Uyghurs includes mass murder that constitutes genocide. However, the United Nations avoided the term genocide in a report last year, but said the country’s actions “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
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Green said it is also important to protect the U.S. from China, which has been accused of spying on the U.S. after Chinese surveillance balloons were discovered floating in U.S. airspace. The balloon first entered U.S. airspace on Jan. 28 over Alaska before entering into Canadian airspace. The balloon reentered U.S. airspace over Montana on Jan. 31 and was discovered by the public on Feb. 2, before the U.S. military shot it down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.
“We cannot ignore this threat. If we do, Chinese spy balloons won’t be the only threat we have to worry about,” Green said. “U.S. technology that lands in the hands of Communist China only hurts our children and grandchildren. Let that sink in. The CCP is using our sensitive technology to weaken the United States — something our next generation will pay for.”
