WASHINGTON—United States Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Gary Peters (D-MI), along with Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), today sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calling on them to investigate Chinese biotech company, WuXi AppTec, and its subsidiaries, citing WuXi AppTec’s alarming ties to the Chinese military (the People’s Liberation Army or PLA), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the CCP’s human rights abuses.
The members of Congress requested that the agencies consider adding WuXi AppTec and its subsidiaries to the Department of Defense’s Chinese Military Companies List (1260H list), the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List, and the Department of Treasury’s Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List.
“WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics are rapidly becoming a global pharmaceutical and research-services giant that threatens U.S. intellectual property and national security,” the members of Congress wrote. “Both companies have close ties to the CCP and have worked at its behest, in multiple instances.”
Through a thorough, open-source investigation, the members of Congress found that:
- WuXi AppTec chairman has commended CCP branch work in the company and has called on Party branches and members to play an active role in the company.
- WuXi Biologics CEO has linked the company’s success to local CCP support and pledged to work with Party officials to help reduce PRC reliance on foreign technologies in the field of biomedicine.
- WuXi AppTec built and operates the PRC’s “State Key Laboratory of Drug Lead Compound Research,” which carries out research to promote the Chinese economy and military build-up.
- WuXi AppTec has a “management committee” that is staffed by Chinese military personnel and other Party officials.
- WuXi AppTec has received investment from numerous PLA investment funds, including from organizations with a stated goal of investing in companies directly tied to military-civil fusion and military production.
- WuXi AppTec operates genetic testing centers established in coordination with the PLA. Genetic testing allows the CCP to identify and separate Uyghurs Muslims from other residents. This practice has been a key pillar of the CCP’s genocide in the region.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
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