[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3040 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3040

 To establish the principle of reciprocity in the relationship between 
  the United States and the People's Republic of China, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 16, 2023

Mr. Sullivan (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish the principle of reciprocity in the relationship between 
  the United States and the People's Republic of China, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``True Reciprocity Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. RECIPROCITY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND 
              THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) In a number of areas, the relationship between the 
        United States and the People's Republic of China is 
        unacceptably nonreciprocal.
            (2) The imbalance in the relationship creates avenues of 
        influence for the People's Republic of China and the Chinese 
        Communist Party in the United States that the United States 
        does not enjoy in the People's Republic of China.
            (3) Diplomats, Members of Congress, and other officials of 
        the United States are highly restricted with respect to where 
        they can travel and with whom they can meet in the People's 
        Republic of China.
            (4) The Government of the United States requires diplomats 
        of the People's Republic of China to notify the Department of 
        State of some travel and meeting plans, and the Government of 
        the United States requires such diplomats to obtain approval 
        from the Department of State for some travel within the United 
        States. However, when such approval is required, it is almost 
        always granted expeditiously, and access and interactions are 
        unimpeded.
            (5) Diplomats of the People's Republic of China based in 
        the United States generally avail themselves of the freedom to 
        travel within the United States and lobby city councils, 
        mayors, State legislators, and Governors to support initiatives 
        of the People's Republic of China and refrain from passing 
        resolutions, issuing proclamations, or making statements 
        critical of the Government of the People's Republic of China.
            (6) According to the Integrated Country Strategy of the 
        Department of State on the People's Republic of China (approved 
        May 3, 2022, and updated February 2, 2023), ``Local [PRC] law 
        enforcement and security services frequently employ 
        extrajudicial means against U.S. citizens without regard to 
        international norms, including the Vienna Convention on 
        Consular Relations and the 1980 U.S.-China Bilateral Consular 
        Convention. These include broad travel prohibitions, known as 
        `exit bans.' These are sometimes used to prevent U.S. citizens, 
        who are not themselves suspected of a crime, from leaving the 
        PRC to pressure relatives or associates in the United States 
        who are wanted by PRC law enforcement to return to the PRC. PRC 
        officials also arbitrarily detain and interrogate U.S. citizens 
        for reasons related to `state security' . . . [and] the PRC 
        criminal justice system often subjects U.S. citizens to overly 
        lengthy pre-trial detention in extremely difficult conditions 
        while investigations are ongoing, and detention facilities 
        arbitrarily prevent/limit detainees' access to lawyers, medical 
        treatment, and mail.''
            (7) The People's Republic of China is considered one of the 
        least free countries to operate in as a journalist, ranked 179 
        out of 180 in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index published by 
        Reporters Without Borders, above only North Korea. The ranking 
        of the People's Republic of China stems from the country's near 
        complete lack of independent journalism.
            (8) In 2022, Freedom House's ``Freedom on the Net'' annual 
        report ranked the People's Republic of China as the world's 
        worst abuser of internet freedom for the eighth consecutive 
        year, with censorship intensifying during the 2022 Beijing 
        Olympics.
            (9) According to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, 
        the Government of the People's Republic of China restricts the 
        activities of journalists from the United States and 
        journalists representing United States media outlets by denying 
        entry into the People's Republic of China or restricting access 
        to people and places, attempting to censor their reporting, and 
        harassing their colleagues and sources.
            (10) The Government of the United States generally allows 
        journalists not affiliated with publications designated as 
        foreign missions under the Foreign Missions Act (22 U.S.C. 4301 
        et seq.) and other citizens of the People's Republic of China 
        to travel freely within the United States, including on college 
        and university campuses and in the halls of Congress.
            (11) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to either directly or indirectly fund Confucius 
        Institutes and Confucius Classrooms operated on campuses of 
        institutions of higher education in the United States and in K-
        12 public school districts, in many cases rebranding them to 
        avoid recent scrutiny, but similar institutes funded by the 
        Government of the United States in the People's Republic of 
        China have been forced to close.
            (12) Under the Law of the People's Republic of China on the 
        Management of the Activities of Overseas Non-Governmental 
        Organizations in Mainland China, since 2017, foreign 
        nongovernmental organizations operating in mainland China have 
        been required to submit to supervision by the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China.
            (13) Since 2019, the People's Republic of China has imposed 
        sanctions on employees of United States nongovernmental 
        organizations, including the National Endowment for Democracy, 
        Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, the National Democratic 
        Institute, and the International Republican Institute.
            (14) The Government of the People's Republic of China has 
        failed to fulfill key commitments to the World Trade 
        Organization, including with respect to forced transfers of 
        intellectual property, joint venture requirements, subsidies, 
        and nontariff barriers, that would level opportunities for 
        trade, investment, and United States influence in the People's 
        Republic of China.
            (15) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        provides massive subsidies for agriculture, fishery, aluminum 
        and steel, and technology manufacturing and services that 
        distort domestic and global competition in favor of businesses 
        of the People's Republic of China and at the expense of market 
        access for United States companies. These discriminatory and 
        distortionary policies harm United States security at home and 
        give the Government of the People's Republic of China unfair 
        advantage in its global competition with the United States.
            (16) The Government of the People's Republic of China uses 
        multiple policy tools, including caps on foreign equity 
        ownership, data localization, and other administrative 
        procedures, to coerce foreign companies to transfer technology 
        as a precondition for market access. These policies pose 
        immediate and far-reaching challenges for United States 
        companies and limit market access for United States products 
        and services in ways that Chinese counterparts do not face in 
        the United States market.
            (17) The internet and online restrictions imposed by the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China hamper the 
        operations of United States businesses in the People's Republic 
        of China, and certain United States technology companies have 
        been pushed out and effectively banned from doing business in 
        the People's Republic of China.
            (18) Businesses of the People's Republic of China, both 
        state- and party-owned businesses and private businesses, are 
        tied to representing state and party interests, and the access 
        of those businesses to the United States furthers those 
        interests.
    (b) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States--
            (1) to establish the principle of reciprocity in the 
        relationship between the United States and the People's 
        Republic of China in order to expose the full range of 
        instruments of influence of the People's Republic of China and 
        the Chinese Communist Party in the United States;
            (2) to clearly differentiate, in official statements, media 
        communications, and messaging, between the people of the 
        People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party;
            (3) that any negotiations on trade restrictions or 
        investment with respect to the People's Republic of China 
        should be concluded in a manner that addresses nonreciprocal 
        arrangements between the two countries;
            (4) that any agreements resulting from such negotiations 
        should, to the extent possible--
                    (A) ensure that the People's Republic of China 
                commits to structural changes in its trade and economic 
                policies;
                    (B) ensure that the People's Republic of China 
                meets previously made bilateral and multilateral 
                commitments;
                    (C) hold the People's Republic of China accountable 
                to those commitments;
                    (D) address national security concerns related to 
                the targets of Chinese investments in the United 
                States, United States investments in the People's 
                Republic of China, and the export and import of 
                technology; and
                    (E) take into account ties of Chinese businesses to 
                the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist 
                Party, and the People's Liberation Army that enable 
                those businesses to influence United States business, 
                government, and society in ways closed to United States 
                businesses attempting to exercise the same influence in 
                the People's Republic of China;
            (5) to seek a relationship with the People's Republic of 
        China that is founded on the principles of basic reciprocity 
        across sectors, including economic, diplomatic, educational, 
        and communications sectors;
            (6) to prioritize the principle of reciprocity in the 
        relationship between the United States and the People's 
        Republic of China as a goal in the Integrated Country Strategy 
        of the Department of State on the People's Republic of China;
            (7) to recognize that engagement between the United States 
        and the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist 
        Party can be useful, but only in the context of reciprocity and 
        when the terms of such engagement advance United States 
        interests; and
            (8) to coordinate with allies and partners on policy 
        approaches to reciprocity in the relationship between the 
        United States and the People's Republic of China and the 
        Chinese Communist Party.
    (c) Report and Strategy Required.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
        consultation with relevant Federal departments and agencies, 
        shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees--
                    (A) a report comparing the manners in which the 
                United States Government and the Government of the 
                People's Republic of China treat one another's 
                diplomats and other officials, journalists, businesses, 
                and nongovernmental organizations; and
                    (B) a strategy for addressing imbalances in the 
                treatment described in subparagraph (A).
            (2) Elements of report.--The report required by paragraph 
        (1)(A) shall include the following:
                    (A) A summary of obstacles that United States 
                diplomats and other officials, journalists, businesses, 
                and nongovernmental organizations encounter in carrying 
                out their work in the People's Republic of China.
                    (B) A summary of United States Government 
                regulations and policies with regard to the activities 
                of diplomats and other officials, journalists, 
                businesses, and nongovernmental organizations of the 
                People's Republic of China in the United States.
                    (C) A description of the efforts that officials of 
                the United States have made to rectify any differences 
                in the treatment of diplomats and other officials, 
                journalists, businesses, and nongovernmental 
                organizations by the United States and by the People's 
                Republic of China, and the results of those efforts.
                    (D) An assessment of the adherence of the 
                Government of the People's Republic of China, in its 
                treatment of United States citizens, to the 
                requirements of--
                            (i) the Convention on Consular Relations, 
                        done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and entered into 
                        force March 19, 1967 (21 U.S.T. 77); and
                            (ii) the Consular Convention, signed at 
                        Washington September 17, 1980, and entered into 
                        force February 19, 1982, between the United 
                        States and the People's Republic of China.
                    (E) An assessment of any impacts of the People's 
                Republic of China's internet restrictions on 
                reciprocity between the United States and the People's 
                Republic of China.
                    (F) A summary of other notable areas in which the 
                Government of the People's Republic of China or 
                entities affiliated with that Government are able to 
                conduct activities or investments in the United States 
                but that are denied to United States entities in the 
                People's Republic of China.
                    (G) Recommendations for any changes in law 
                necessary to improve reciprocity in the relationship 
                between the United States and the People's Republic of 
                China.
            (3) Form of report; availability.--
                    (A) Form.--The report required by paragraph (1)(A) 
                shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 
                include a classified index.
                    (B) Availability.--The unclassified portion of the 
                report required by paragraph (1)(A) shall be posted on 
                a publicly available internet website of the Department 
                of State.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 
        Affairs of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Reciprocity.--The term ``reciprocity'' means the mutual 
        and equitable exchange of privileges between governments, 
        countries, businesses, or individuals.
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