Trump-era China sanctions ended by Biden may be revived under new House GOP bill

FIRST ON FOX: Top House Republicans are leading a bill to reverse the Biden administration’s decision to lift sanctions on a Chinese entity linked to the persecution of Uyghurs.

The legislation targeting the Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) Institute of Forensic Science of China was introduced Wednesday by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and is co-led by House China select committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

"It’s past time for the U.S. to confront the [Chinese Communist Party’s] human rights abusers, and Congress will have to lead in the absence of a strong commander in chief," Ogles told Fox News Digital.

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House Republicans want to restore Trump-era sanctions on the Chinese government run by Xi Jinping. (Getty Images)

He accused China’s authoritarian government of "a long and sordid history of human rights abuses."

"Joe Biden has unacceptably chosen to reward a Communist Chinese company despite their genocidal crimes and human rights abuses against the Uyghur population and other ethnic minorities. This legislation to relist China’s Institute of Forensic Science on our Entity List will return us to President Trump’s peace through strength strategy and ensure no U.S. technology is benefiting Communist China’s human rights abuses," Stefanik said.

The bill has 10 more House GOP co-sponsors and is backed by conservative groups Heritage Action and America First Policy Institute.

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President Biden lifted the sanctions last year. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The CCP agency was one of nine entities sanctioned by the Trump administration in May 2020.

A press release at the time accused it of being "complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR)."

The sanctions were lifted in November 2023 while the U.S. was working to persuade China to take a more active role in cracking down on the flow of synthetic drugs and fentanyl precursors from within its borders into the U.S.

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The Biden administration lifted the sanctions in a bid to boost cooperation on stopping the flow of synthetic drugs. (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration)

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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at the time that the sanctions were "a barrier to achieving cooperation" on the flow of drugs.

"When we evaluated the issue and looked at all the merits of de-listing the IFS, ultimately we decided that given the steps China was willing to take to cut down on precursor trafficking, it was an appropriate step," he said.