Although U.S. lawmakers have called on the Biden administration to develop a set of sanctions it could immediately impose against China if Beijing were to invade Taiwan, experts told a think tank this week that it remains unclear how exactly the U.S. would respond, including whether it would use military force.
Exports to China
Members of the European Parliament last week called on the bloc to sanction officials in China and Sudan for human rights violations.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced new sanctions against Hamas officials, people and entities helping to finance the terror group’s operations in Gaza, the Treasury Department said.
The Defense Department’s new National Defense Industrial Strategy doesn't advocate for broad acquisition reform or significant new legislation, but it does show DOD plans to use existing authorities for several acquisition-related initiatives, including improving the Foreign Military Sales program, Wiley Rein said Jan. 19.
U.S. and Chinese officials met in Beijing last week for the third meeting of the two countries’ Financial Working Group, where they discussed “financial stability” and international financial institutions, including anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism controls. “U.S. officials also frankly raised areas of disagreement during the conversations,” the Treasury Department said in a readout of the meeting. Both sides agreed to continue meeting regularly, and Treasury said Secretary Janet Yellen "looks forward to a return visit to China at the appropriate time.”
The House Homeland Security Committee and the House Select Committee on China have asked a U.S. executive from Europe-based ABB to testify about how the firm secures the software and hardware it provides for ship-to-shore cranes built by China’s Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC).
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week removed three companies from the Unverified List after it was able to successfully complete end-use checks.
USDA needs to improve how it collects, tracks and shares information on foreign investment in U.S. farmland, the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report released on Jan. 18.
The Bureau of Industry and Security believes its export controls are adequate to protect all 19 of the critical and emerging technology categories identified by the White House as important to national security (see 2202090016), a BIS official said on Jan. 17.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Jan. 18 that he remains committed to passing two China-related investment measures that failed to become law last year.