Meng, Hirono and Chu Seek to Stop House Republicans From Relaunching Trump-era China Initiative

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) led an effort to stop House GOP members from reinstating the China Initiative, a Trump-era program created in 2018 that purported to combat espionage but in effect targeted and profiled those of Chinese descent.

The Department of Justice ended the program in 2022, after several of the alleged espionage and national security cases ended in acquittal, dismissal or were dropped altogether. But Republicans in Congress are now attempting to restart the program using a provision in a key House spending bill—at the same time that they are reviving racially motivated rhetoric against Chinese Americans.

In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Meng, Hirono and Chu—joined by a dozen other lawmakers—called for the provision to be removed.

“Republicans are essentially pushing the Chinese Exclusion Act 2.0,” said Rep. Meng, First Vice Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “When the China Initiative was in effect, we saw the Department of Justice direct animosity, suspicion and bigotry toward Asian American researchers and scholars. This was not only an attack on academic freedom; it was yet another expression of anti-Asian sentiment and scapegoating in the United States. As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittees on State and Foreign Operations and Commerce, Justice, Science, I fully believe that our government must take every necessary action to safeguard national security and protect Americans from threats posed by foreign entities, including China. But the China Initiative is not that. The China Initiative came at the expense of innocent Asian Americans, by questioning their loyalty and reinforcing negative and harmful stereotypes. We must not put targets on the backs of Asian American citizens and those who are lawfully working here. We cannot return to this.”

“The Trump-era China Initiative fostered bigotry and discrimination against Asian Americans, particularly those with connections to China, while doing little to actually advance national security interests,” said Senator Hirono, Executive Board Member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “While it is crucial that we protect our national security and intellectual property, codified discrimination is not the answer. At a time when anti-Asian hate and violence is still rampant across the country, we must do everything we can to prevent programs like this—founded in racism and xenophobia—from happening again.”

“The Trump-era China Initiative undermined our nation’s scientific innovation and global partnerships while perpetuating the ‘forever foreigner’ stereotype and ruining the careers and lives of the innocent scholars targeted for investigations solely because of their Chinese ancestry,” said Rep. Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “In fact, the China Initiative was such a failure at collecting evidence of economic espionage that the DOJ was forced to switch its investigations from trade secret thefts to grant application mistakes. That is why CAPAC successfully pushed the DOJ under President Biden to eliminate the initiative and why we led a letter to Congressional leadership today to avoid resuscitating a program based on xenophobia, not evidence.”

The lawmakers’ letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries can be viewed here, and the text of the correspondence is below.

Others who signed the letter include Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Peter Welch (D-VT) and Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Jill Tokuda (D-HI).

Republicans are attempting to relaunch the China Initiative in the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act (H.R. 5893) which funds the Departments of Commerce, Justice and other science-related programs.

Meng is a senior member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies which oversees the CJS Appropriations Act.

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Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Democratic Leader Jeffries,

We write to you to express our strong concern about language directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reinstate the National Security Division (NSD)’s “China Initiative” that was included in the explanatory materials for H.R. 5893, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act, 2024.

As you begin the conference process to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the bill, we strongly urge you to strike the following language from the explanatory materials to H.R. 5893 in the Joint Explanatory Statement (JES):

“Countering espionage by the People’s Republic of China.—The Committee believes it was deeply irresponsible for the Department to end its China Initiative. The Committee understands that the Department established the China Initiative in 2018 in response to troubling trends indicating 80 percent of all economic espionage prosecutions brought by the Department allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state, and that there was at least some nexus to China in around 60 percent of all trade secret theft cases. The initiative’s goal was to identify and prosecute those engaged in trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage as well as protecting our critical infrastructure against external threats through foreign direct investment and supply chain compromises. Additionally, the initiative aimed to combat covert Chinese efforts to influence the American public and policymakers. Within funds provided, the Committee directs the National Security Division to reestablish an office dedicated to countering espionage and influence efforts against American businesses, research institutions, and academia emanating from the PRC.”

Subsequently, we urge you to strike all other references to reinstating the China Initiative in the “Highlights of the Bill” section of the explanatory materials for H.R.5893 from the JES. This section describes the decision to dismantle the China Initiative as “unwise.” We object to this characterization.

The DOJ first launched the China Initiative in November 2018. The stated goal of the China Initiative “was to identify and prosecute those engaged in trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage as well as protecting our critical infrastructure against external threats through foreign direct investment and supply chain compromises.” In the more than three years that this program existed, federal prosecutors charged dozens of individuals with various types of fraud and conspiracy, acting as an agent of a foreign government, unlawful export, money laundering, and other charges.

Prosecutors pursued criminal charges in all of these cases rather than utilizing civil penalties or administrative remedies. Meanwhile, the DOJ never provided a formal explanation of why or how it labeled cases as part of the China Initiative. It also never made publicly available data on these cases.

This prosecutorial initiative was a blunt instrument wielded against anyone who had “some nexus to China.” An unacceptably high number of the aforementioned cases ended in dropped charges, dismissals, and acquittals because prosecutors could not prove allegations. Moreover, over the course of this program, an increasing number of cases had to do with false statements and the failure to make disclosures—not espionage, theft, or spying—specifically by academics and researchers of Chinese descent. Chinese American and Chinese researchers and scholars—who have made valuable contributions to science, technology, and academia in this country for decades—reported that they felt targeted by a racial profiling campaign and fearful of conducting research. Several of the most high profile cases not only had dramatic consequences for individuals personally and professionally, they also cast a chilling effect on scientific inquiry and academic freedom in the United States.

To be clear, we recognize the utmost importance of national security and the threats to it. The ending of the China Initiative was not the end of federal law enforcement efforts to counter such threats from the Chinese Communist Party and other regimes. Following the Department’s strategic review of the China Initiative, United States Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olson announced in February 2022 the NSD’s new Strategy for Countering Nation-State Threats. This strategy takes “a comprehensive approach” and allows the NSD greater flexibility as it “work[s] with the FBI and other investigative agencies to assess the evidence of intent and materiality, as well as the nexus to our national or economic security” of specific threats. In spite of suggestions otherwise, federal agencies have not stopped working to counter espionage and other threats by adversarial governments.

A budget is a representation of our priorities and values. It would be both a misallocation of resources and a backsliding for civil rights to restart the China Initiative. We appreciate your support for forward-looking solutions to the problems our nation faces, as well as our shared commitment to American values of freedom and fairness. We urge you to strike this language from the final text in the JES accompanying the FY24 CJS Appropriations Bill.

Sincerely,