Chairman Mast Leads Letter Urging the Treasury Department to Block U.S. Capital from Fueling the Chinese Military

Washington, D.C. — Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast urged the Treasury Department to take additional action to ensure American capital and expertise do not strengthen China’s military industrial base.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Chairman Mast was joined by fellow Congressional national security leaders in applauding the successes of the Outbound Investment Security Program (OISP), codified and enhanced by the COINS Act, which has closed dangerous loopholes that previously allowed U.S. investments to flow into China’s defense industrial base and key enabling sectors like semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology.

“The OISP and the COINS Act have been major successes in protecting U.S. national security,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, more must be done to ensure that the United States does not fund its own destruction.”

Cosigners of this letter include Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, Senator Jim Banks, Senator Pete Ricketts, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul.

Among the recommendations raised by the lawmakers, the first is expanding the OISP to cover biotechnology investments in countries of concern. They emphasized that certain biotechnology investments could boost adversary development of bioweapons, create dangerous dependencies on adversaries for advanced medicines, and erode America's biotech leadership.
 
“U.S. capital is helping to expand China’s biotechnology industry in ways that could leave the United States dangerously dependent on a strategic competitor,” the lawmakers wrote. “Such dependence would pose risks even greater than China’s dominance in rare earths.”

Additionally, the lawmakers called for targeting non-traditional transaction types like IPO underwriting and management consulting, which adversaries have increasingly exploited to gain U.S. expertise and credibility.

“Foreign adversaries have increasingly exploited additional transaction types to achieve the same outcomes that the OISP was meant to prevent,” the lawmakers wrote. “Absent action under Section 809, these transaction types will continue to allow U.S. firms to enable adversary military and technological advancement even as direct investment pathways are restricted.”

Finally, the lawmakers emphasized the importance of prohibiting Americans from investing in publicly traded securities of blacklisted Chinese firms, urging prompt evaluation for inclusion on the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies (NS-CMIC) List.

“​​Allowing Americans to continue trading the publicly listed securities of these firms undermines the purpose of existing designations and risks financing the very military capabilities U.S. policy seeks to constrain,” the lawmakers wrote.

In the letter, the lawmakers applauded the Administration for its leadership in preventing foreign adversaries from exploiting U.S. capital. The lawmakers underscored that more must be done to ensure America maintains its military, technological, and economic edge over foreign adversaries.

Read the full letter here.