[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2647 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  1st Session

                               H. R. 2647

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

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.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2647

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
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 (except with respect to authorities relating 
        to importation), 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.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 7, 1997.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.