Senators Urge Commerce to Return Chinese Lab to Entity List
Four Republican senators have called on the Commerce Department to reverse its decision to remove China’s Institute of Forensic Science from the Entity List, saying the easing of trade sanctions on the scientific lab was premature.
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Commerce reportedly took the lab off the list in mid-November to encourage China to stop producing and exporting precursor chemicals that are used to make illegal fentanyl drugs that flow into the U.S. (see 2311160003). But in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez, the lawmakers argued that the decision will only “embolden” China’s repressive Communist government. They said the export restrictions on the lab shouldn't be ended until China stops making the precursors.
The Chinese Communist Party “is one of the most repressive regimes in the world,” the letter says. “If they had any desire to curb the production of fentanyl precursors in their country, they would have already taken action. To preemptively reward them with the removal of sanctions is unconscionable. [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] will only respond to strength. We must force his hand and make it clear that sanctions will only be lifted after the CCP stops the deadly production of fentanyl precursor chemicals."
The Dec. 1 letter, publicly released Dec. 4, was signed by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Katie Britt, R-Ala., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.
Commerce and BIS didn't respond to requests for comment on Dec. 5.
During the Trump administration, BIS placed the institute on the Entity List in 2020 for its role in human rights violations against China’s Uyghur minority (see 2005220058). In August 2023, House Republicans wrote a letter to the Biden administration urging it not to remove sanctions on the institute, saying "we must be careful not to compromise on our values of basic human rights in exchange for empty promises" (see 2308030022).