Condemning China for continuing to hold its "developing-nation" status in the World Trade Organization, its continued human rights violations, its misinformation with respect to poverty, its dishonest lending practices, and its censorship of free speech.

Bill: 117-hres-929
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Steel, Michelle [R-CA-48]
Introduced: 2022-02-15
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Latest action: action_date: 2022-02-15
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-02-15
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution condemns China for continuing to hold its developing-nation status in the World Trade Organization. It also condemns China for its (1) continued human rights violations, (2) misinformation with respect to poverty, (3) dishonest lending practices, and (4) censorship of free speech.</p>

tv_txt: IV 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 929 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 15, 2022 Mrs. Steel submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs , and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means , for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Condemning China for continuing to hold its developing-nation status in the World Trade Organization, its continued human rights violations, its misinformation with respect to poverty, its dishonest lending practices, and its censorship of free speech.

Whereas the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced on November 23, 2020, that it had eradicated extreme poverty by the end of 2020; Whereas the CPC announced, through eight years of hard work, China achieved the goal of eliminating extreme poverty—a key goal for the new era of building socialism with Chinese characteristics ; Whereas the State Department updated the Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory in response to the CPC and their ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and the growing evidence of its use of forced labor there; Whereas the World Bank considers China an upper-middle-income country; Whereas Chinese Government officials are on record stating that, There are still some 600 million people earning a medium or low income, or even less. ; Whereas China is leveraging military modernization, influence operations, and predatory economics to coerce neighboring countries to reorder the Indo-Pacific region to their advantage; Whereas China spends roughly $200,000,000,000 on defense annually, the second ranking country in military spending, and announced that its annual military budget would increase by 6.2 percent; Whereas the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy is the largest navy in the world consisting of over 300 ships and 130 major surface combats, including the newly introduced Type 094 class ballistic missile submarine, capable of carrying 12 modern JL–2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with a range of approximately 7,400 kilometers; Whereas the China National Space Administration is not transparent on the cost of the Tianwen–1 project; Whereas the World Bank says that China is undergoing the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history ; Whereas China, with respect to purchasing power parity basis, has become the world’s largest economy; Whereas China is the world’s second-largest economy, with a gross domestic product of $14,000,000,000,000; Whereas China is the top energy consumer in the world; Whereas China has more billionaires among its population than any other country, except the United States; Whereas China continues to hold its World Trade Organization (WTO) developing-nation status; Whereas China should establish a plan to move from WTO developing-nation status to developed-nation status; Whereas Chinese subsidies and government controls provide its producers an advantage in the world market; Whereas Gambia, Guinea, and Cambodia, among other countries, are more representative of countries with developing-nation status; Whereas China needs to participate in fair subsidy disciplines within the WTO; Whereas China is expanding its global security footprint through the acquisition and leasing of ports, airfields, and critical information and technology infrastructure around the world; Whereas the Congressional-Executive Commission on China found that China was using forced sterilization, forced abortion, and coercive family planning against Muslims; Whereas the Biden Administration should declare genocide to be occurring in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China; Whereas China should be condemned if threats continue by the CPC against the Government of Taiwan; Whereas the XUAR is now estimated to have up to 1,800,000 Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hui, and others that have been arbitrarily detained in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps where they are subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination; Whereas the Turkic and Muslim minorities are also facing widespread and systemic forced labor; Whereas pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong are being targeted and arrested; Whereas, as a country with WTO most-favored-nation status, China should stand firm against the use of slave labor, forced work camps, or restrictions on the free exercise of religion; Whereas illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances are predominantly sourced from China; Whereas China generated 53 percent of the world’s total coal-fired power in 2020; Whereas China opened three times as many more coal plants in 2020 as the entire rest of the world; Whereas China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases; Whereas Chinese water pollution affects other countries and major rivers in China are classified as severely polluted; Whereas China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) raises issues of debt and inequities with respect to countries participating in such Initiative; Whereas transparency is needed when funding is awarded to economically questionable projects in developing countries; Whereas heavily indebted countries are highly susceptible to Chinese political pressure; Whereas China should promote and adhere to high standards lending practices; and Whereas the Department of Defense identified Huawei as a CPC military company, along with 19 other Chinese firms with ties to the China’s military: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives condemns China for continuing to hold its developing-nation status in the World Trade Organization, its continued human rights violations, its misinformation with respect to poverty, its dishonest lending practices, and its censorship of free speech.