Congressmen Brad Wenstrup and Mark Green write for National Review Online about an emerging threat from communist China.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) quest for global dominance continues. What began with the control of trade routes and telecommunication systems has now expanded to something more personal and dangerous — control of Americans’ genetic and health data.
Since at least 2008, China has launched a global campaign to acquire and control critical infrastructure such as ports, bridges, roads, and telecommunications technology across Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the South Asia. …
… Americans are waking up to the fact that we cannot not let foreign governments manipulate our infrastructure or our children, in any domain. Unfortunately, the CCP will not stop at infiltrating global infrastructure and telecommunications technology. Their target is also our DNA.
A 2021 CCP planning document reveals how its next frontier for conquest — by 2035 — would be the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Using homegrown businesses, the party is quickly amassing a global monopoly on gene therapies, generic prescription drugs, and more.
CCP biotechnology companies have collected DNA from millions in China and around the world, including in the U.S. For example, the Beijing Genomics Institute has contracts and partnerships with health systems across the United States. Yet this same company has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Commerce for providing genetic analysis used in the CCP’s campaign against the oppressed Uyghur population in China’s Xinjiang region.
These biotechnology companies have demonstrated that they are willing and able to do the bidding of the CCP and cannot be trusted with American patients’ sensitive information.Just like our government responded to the threats represented by Huawei and ByteDance, Congress is ready to better secure our national health security with the BIOSECURE Act. The bill would prohibit American taxpayer dollars from flowing to biotechnology companies of concern, predominantly headquartered in or controlled by mainland China.
