[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2580 Introduced in House (IH)]
105th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2580
To ensure that commercial activities of the People's Liberation Army of
China or any Communist Chinese military company in the United States
are monitored and are subject to the authorities under the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 30, 1997
Mrs. Fowler (for herself, Mr. Cox of California, Mr. Gibbons, Mr.
Gilman, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Sam Johnson, Mr. McIntosh, Mr.
Rohrabacher, Mr. Royce, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr.
Solomon, Mr. Spence, Mr. Wolf, and Ms. Pelosi) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure that commercial activities of the People's Liberation Army of
China or any Communist Chinese military company in the United States
are monitored and are subject to the authorities under the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The People's Liberation Army is the principal
instrument of repression within the People's Republic of China,
responsible for occupying Tibet since 1950, massacring hundreds
of students and demonstrators for democracy in Tiananmen Square
on June 4, 1989, and running the Laogai (``reform through
labor'') slave labor camps.
(2) The People's Liberation Army is engaged in a massive
military buildup, which has involved a doubling since 1992 of
announced official figures for military spending by the
People's Republic of China.
(3) The People's Liberation Army is engaging in a major
ballistic missile modernization program which could undermine
peace and stability in East Asia, including 2 new
intercontinental missile programs, 1 submarine-launched missile
program, a new class of compact but long-range cruise missiles,
and an upgrading of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles.
(4) The People's Liberation Army is working to coproduce
the SU-27 fighter with Russia, and is in the process of
purchasing several substantial weapons systems from Russia,
including the 633 model of the Kilo-class submarine and the SS-
N-22 Sunburn missile system specifically designed to
incapacitate United States aircraft carriers and Aegis
cruisers.
(5) The People's Liberation Army has carried out acts of
aggression in the South China Sea, including the February 1995
seizure of the Mischief Reef in the Spratley Islands, which is
claimed by the Philippines.
(6) In July 1995 and in March 1996, the People's Liberation
Army conducted missile tests to intimidate Taiwan when Taiwan
held historic free elections, and those tests effectively
blockaded Taiwan's 2 principal ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung.
(7) The People's Liberation Army has contributed to the
proliferation of technologies relevant to the refinement of
weapons-grade nuclear material, including transferring ring
magnets to Pakistan.
(8) The People's Liberation Army and associated defense
companies have provided ballistic missile components, cruise
missiles, and chemical weapons ingredients to Iran, a country
that the executive branch has repeatedly reported to Congress
is the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world.
(9) In May 1996, United States authorities caught the
People's Liberation Army enterprise Poly Technologies and the
civilian defense industrial company Norinco attempting to
smuggle 2,000 AK-47s into Oakland, California, and offering to
sell urban gangs shoulder-held missile launchers capable of
``taking out a 747'' (which the affidavit of the United States
Customs Service of May 21, 1996, indicated that the
representative of Poly Technologies and Norinco claimed), and
Communist Chinese authorities punished only 4 low-level arms
merchants by sentencing them on May 17, 1997, to brief prison
terms.
(10) The People's Liberation Army contributes to the
People's Republic of China's failure to meet the standards of
the 1995 Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on
intellectual property rights by running factories which pirate
videos, compact discs, and computer software that are products
of the United States.
(11) The People's Liberation Army contributes to the
People's Republic of China's failing to meet the standards of
the February 1997 Memorandum of Understanding with the United
States on textiles by operating enterprises engaged in the
transshipment of textile products to the United States through
third countries.
(12) The estimated $2 billion to $3 billion in annual
earnings of People's Liberation Army enterprises subsidize the
expansion and activities of the People's Liberation Army
described in this subsection.
(13) The commercial activities of the People's Liberation
Army are frequently conducted on noncommercial terms, or for
noncommercial purposes such as military or foreign policy
considerations.
SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF AUTHORITIES UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY
ECONOMIC POWERS ACT TO CHINESE MILITARY COMPANIES.
(a) Determination of Communist Chinese Military Companies.--
(1) In general.--Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), not
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Attorney
General, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Director
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall compile a list of
persons who are Communist Chinese military companies and who
are operating directly or indirectly in the United States or
any of its territories and possessions, and shall publish the
list of such persons in the Federal Register. On an ongoing
basis, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the
Attorney General, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall make
additions or deletions to the list based on the latest
information available.
(2) Communist chinese military company.--For purposes of
making the determination required by paragraph (1), the term
``Communist Chinese military company''--
(A) means a person that is--
(i) engaged in providing commercial
services, manufacturing, producing, or
exporting, and
(ii) owned or controlled by the People's
Liberation Army, and
(B) includes, but is not limited to, any person
identified in the United States Defense Intelligence
Agency publication numbered VP-1920-271-90, dated
September 1990, or PC-1921-57-95, dated October 1995,
and any update of such reports for the purposes of this
Act.
(b) Presidential Authority.--
(1) Authority.--The President may exercise the authorities
set forth in section 203(a) of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702(a)) with respect to any
commercial activity in the United States by a Communist Chinese
military company, without regard to section 202 of that Act.
(2) Penalties.--The penalties set forth in section 206 of
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C.
1705) shall apply to violations of any license, order, or
regulation issued under paragraph (1).
SEC. 3. DEFINITION.
For purposes of this Act, the term ``People's Liberation Army''
means the land, naval, and air military services, the police, and the
intelligence services of the Communist Government of the People's
Republic of China, and any member of any such service or of such
police.
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