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Washington, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul delivered remarks and questioned witnesses at a hearing to examine export controls as a tool to counter the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and America’s adversaries. Chairman McCaul noted numerous examples of how American technology is fueling the CCP’s military expansion and espionage, such as the its spy balloon and hypersonic missile program. During his questioning, witnesses confirmed America’s export control regime needs dire reform to counter America’s allies and strengthen U.S. national security. 

 

“As the CCP expands their surveillance state and war machine, it is critical we stop selling our sensitive technology to them and to other adversaries. We are now witnessing a troubling trend where our adversaries use American components in their weapons and surveillance systems. One need look no further than the CCP spy balloon that surveilled some of our most sensitive military sites. It was widely reported that it used commercially available American technology. We are beyond the point of a ‘wake up’ call. America’s adversaries are using American innovation to undermine U.S. national security interests, and allies, and our democratic values.”

 

Watch his opening statement here.

 

Chairman McCaul asked Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez, “The old school of thinking was to sanction a company and hope that would work, or hope [the Department of Treasury] would even sanction the company. And even if they did, the [sanctioned] company could change the name of the company overnight and the sanction would have no force and effect. You and I talked about this sector-based approach… Can you explain to this committee why that is superior to the old-fashioned approach?” Mr. Estevez responded that a sector-based approach is, “way more effective. It’s way more effective for industry… and it’s more effective [from an] enforcement perspective.”

 

Watch his questioning here.

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