[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 9, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4015-S4016]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              UNITED STATES INNOVATION AND COMPETITION ACT

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, the U.S. Innovation & Competition Act the 
Senate passed yesterday sends a loud, clear signal to the Government of 
the People's Republic of China and to the Chinese Communist Party: 
American foreign policy is grounded in our values, and we will work 
with our allies to defend our interests and to protect our friends. 
Enactment of this bill will place the United States in a much stronger 
position to thwart Chinese aggression, uphold human rights, increase 
U.S. competitiveness, and enhance our national security.
  I am proud to have worked on a bipartisan basis with Chairman 
Menendez and Ranking Member Risch and other colleagues in both parties 
to put forward legislation ensuring that defense of human rights and 
good governance and upgrading our armory in the battle against 
corruption remains at the forefront of our national security policy.
  This measure will complement the action President Biden took just 
last week to define the fight against corruption as a ``core U.S. 
national security interest.'' In the National Security Study Memorandum 
the President released on June 3, he ordered a high-level review of how 
our government, our partners, and others can work together to combat 
illicit, corrosive corrupt activity.
  The interagency review that he directed the National Security Advisor 
to lead should yield a robust strategy that brings all the tools at the 
disposal of the United States to bear on one of the most consequential 
problems we face. I look forward to seeing the results of this high-
level report and working with the Biden-Harris administration to target 
corruption wherever we find it. In the meantime, the legislation the 
Senate has passed will provide the Executive with more tools.
  While corruption is a global issue--no country is immune from the 
disease that is corruption--it is important that we bring this fight 
directly to the Chinese Government. S. 1260 calls for a report to 
Congress on the corruption and corrupt activities of the senior 
officials of the Government of the People's Republic of China so that 
the United States can expose these individuals and hold them 
accountable.
  Congress cannot--and must not--turn a blind eye to the People's 
Republic of China's shocking, systematic abuse of its Uighur 
population, as well as of ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgz, and other Muslim 
minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region. This ongoing 
genocide demands a forceful U.S. response.
  The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act protects the innocent victims 
of these atrocities by authorizing appropriations for protecting human 
rights to include programs that prioritize the protection and 
advancement of the freedoms of association, assembly, religion, and 
expression for women, human rights activists, and ethnic and religious 
minorities in China. The bill also authorizes and encourages the 
imposition of sanctions relating to forced labor and with respect to 
systematic rape, coercive abortion, forced sterilization, and 
involuntary contraceptive implantation in the Xinjiang Uighur 
autonomous region.
  Beijing's plan to circumvent Hong Kong's independent legal system 
with a far-reaching, oppressive national security law is dangerous and 
in complete disregard of the principles of the ``one country, two 
systems.'' S. 1260 ensures that we stand with Hong Kong's citizens for 
their freedoms, democracy, and basic human rights by authorizing 
funding for the promotion of democracy in China and specifically in 
Hong Kong.
  Until the Chinese Communist Party changes its behavior, we and our 
allies and partners must hold it accountable. This bill reiterates our 
strong, bipartisan commitment to working together to call out brutal 
regimes and use tools like the Global Magnitsky Act to hold individuals 
accountable for their violations of human rights and corrupt practices.
  The bill permanently reauthorizes the Global Magnitsky Act, allowing 
the U.S. Government to continue to utilize this valuable tool. While 
this is a crucial step, I also hope we significantly expand the Global 
Magnitsky sanctions authority by adopting parameters used to implement 
Executive Order 13818.
  The United States can counter Chinese threats to our national 
security by upholding our values, emphasizing transparency, and 
exposing corruption, but other nations must see that we live, as well 
as preach, our values.
  I am gratified that S. 1260 includes my proposal to expand a ban on 
postemployment by senior State Department officials on lobbying the 
U.S. Government on behalf of any foreign governments and state-owned 
entities. Doing so ensures that the U.S. Government practices what we 
preach, removing the appearance that our diplomats might be doing less 
than their best on behalf of the American people in order to position 
themselves for immediate postemployment jobs advocating for foreign 
interests.
  I was pleased to join many of my colleagues in supporting several 
specific initiatives to hold the Chinese Communist Party and other 
regimes accountable.
  The Transnational Repression Accountability & Prevention, TRAP, Act, 
which I am proud to co-lead with my colleague Senator Wicker, who is 
also ranking member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, takes aim at the 
pervasive and pernicious problem of authoritarian abuse of INTERPOL. 
Dictators regularly submit to INTERPOL abusive red notices and 
diffusions based on false or trumped-up charges in an effort to coerce 
law enforcement agencies in democratic countries to harass and even 
extradite those who have spoken out against oppression and corruption.
  Bill Browder, who ensured that Sergei Magnitsky's courage and 
integrity became known to the world and who worked closely with me on 
the Magnitsky Act, has been subject to no fewer than eight abusive 
INTERPOL red notices submitted by the Russian Government. While Bill 
Browder's case is emblematic of the wider problem, he is by no means 
alone. Countries such as Russia, China, and Turkey regularly file 
abusive red notices to go after those individuals who have fallen afoul 
of these regimes, despite this being a clear violation of INTERPOL's 
constitution.
  Adding the TRAP Act to S. 1260 would do three things. First, it sets 
priorities for the United States in responding to INTERPOL abuse and 
promoting reform within INTERPOL. It is critical that the United States 
use its voice, vote, and influence within the organization to 
reestablish its rule of law foundation. Second, it identifies areas for 
improvement in the U.S. Government's response to INTERPOL abuse and 
mandates that the Agencies tasked with managing U.S. engagement at 
INTERPOL examine and determine who the abusers are, their tactics, and 
how the United States can best respond. Finally, it protects the

[[Page S4016]]

U.S. judicial system from the influence of abusive INTERPOL notices by 
clearly mandating that no person may be extradited solely because of a 
red notice or diffusion.
  Thanks to the TRAP Act, autocrats will be much less able to abuse 
INTERPOL's information-sharing protocols, and dissidents can sleep 
better at night knowing that the long arm of dictatorship will be held 
at bay.
  I am also pleased to have worked with Senator Rubio to include in S. 
1260 the South China Sea & East China Sea Sanctions Act. This measure 
authorizes the President to impose blocking sanctions and prohibit 
visas for Chinese individuals who contribute to construction or 
development projects and those who threaten the peace, security, or 
stability of the South China Sea, SCS, or East China Sea, ECS. China's 
military has been creating artificial islands in the South China Sea 
and thereby asserting that its sovereignty extends into the long-
recognized territorial waters of other nations and they are using these 
creations as military outposts to threaten their neighbors further. The 
SCS & ECS Sanctions Act also imposes sanctions on foreign financial 
institutions that knowingly conduct or facilitate a significant 
financial transaction for sanctioned persons if China takes several 
actions in the SCS or ECS.
  Finally, the measure gives the Executive authorization to curtail 
foreign assistance to countries that recognize China's sovereignty in 
the SCS or the ECS, with exceptions for Taiwan, counterterrorism, 
democracy support, counter-narcotics, global health, and humanitarian 
assistance.
  Collectively, all of the provisions I have just discussed reinforce 
the values that drive our foreign policy. The U.S. Innovation & 
Competition Act will prove to be an important tool in countering the 
People's Republic of China and other authoritarian regimes around the 
world. I want to commend Senator Schumer for his persistence with 
respect to bringing this bipartisan bill to the floor, and for allowing 
its consideration under regular order.

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