The so-called CHIPS Act championed by President Biden and passed by the House of Representatives this week blatantly ignores grave threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who voted against the legislative package in part for its failure to protect America’s manufacturing industry from the growing threat of China’s ambitions.
“As China works to expand its power and steals American intellectual property, the United States must take bolder—not weaker—action to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its crimes,” said Rep. Smith, who has chaired more than 75 congressional hearings on China’s ongoing human rights abuses.
“At a time when we desperately need to secure U.S. manufacturing independence and support American companies, the Biden Administration’s failure to fully take China to task is an affront to the American people and only emboldens the Chinese Communist Party,” said Smith.
“It is absolutely necessary that America has its own strong and independent semiconductor manufacturing industry,” said Smith. “Unfortunately, this egregiously flawed legislation allows American taxpayer dollars to flow into the pockets of Communist China, leaving our country vulnerable to grave supply chain threats and national security risks.”
Among its failures, the 1,054-pages-long CHIPS Act:
· Lacks critical safeguards to protect American research and development;
· Permits taxpayer dollars to be used for investments in manufacturing in China;
· Omits sanctions for the CCP’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs and the need to support Taiwan;
· Gives the Biden Administration undue latitude in defining “legacy chips” that may be produced in China with U.S. taxpayer dollars;
· Allows education institutions penetrated by Communist China to receive American taxpayer dollars for research in critical technologies; and
· Eschews a bipartisan provision allowing the State Department to deny entry to individuals associated with hostile regimes.
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