Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Sanctioning Tyrannical and Oppressive People within the Chinese Communist Party Act” or the “STOP CCP Act”.
Sanctioning Tyrannical and Oppressive People within the Chinese Communist Party Act
AN ACT
To provide for the imposition of sanctions on members of the National Communist Party Congress of the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
The Hong Kong National Security Law promulgated on July 1, 2020—
contravenes the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that provides in Article 23 that the Legislative Council of Hong Kong shall enact legislation related to national security;
violates the People’s Republic of China’s commitments under international law, as defined by the Joint Declaration; and
causes severe and irreparable damage to the “one country, two systems” principle and further erodes global confidence in the People’s Republic of China’s commitment to international law.
Repression of ethnic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China has been ongoing, and was formalized with the “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” that began in 2014.
The mass internment of Uyghur and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has been ongoing since April 2017.
The People’s Republic of China has conducted a targeted and systemic population-control campaign against ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by imposing and implementing coercive population-control practices, including selectively enforcing birth quotas, targeting minority women who are in noncompliance with birth quotas, and subjecting women to coercive measures such as forced birth control, forced sterilization, and forced abortion.
On October 6, 2020, 39 countries delivered a cross-regional joint statement to the United States Mission to the United Nations on the human rights abuses on Uyghurs and other minorities for forced birth control including sterilization.
On January 19, 2021, the Department of State determined that the People’s Republic of China committed crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, citing forced sterilizations, forced abortions, coerced marriages, and separation of Uyghur children from their families.
The Department of State’s 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices affirmed the genocide determination and noted coercive population control measures inflicted on ethnic and religious minority women in China, including forced injections with “drugs that cause temporary or permanent end to their menstrual cycles and fertility”.
The United States ratified the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide in 1988, recognizing that “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” with intent to destroy a group in whole or part is an act that constitutes genocide.
Taiwan is a free and prosperous democracy of nearly 24,000,000 people and an important contributor to peace and stability around the world.
Section 2(b) of the Taiwan Relations Act (Public Law 96–8; 22 U.S.C. 3301(b)) states that it is the policy of the United States—
“to preserve and promote extensive, close, and friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan, as well as the people on the China mainland and all other peoples of the Western Pacific area”;
“to declare that peace and stability in the area are in the political, security, and economic interests of the United States, and are matters of international concern”;
“to make clear that the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means”;
“to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States”;
“to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character”; and
“to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan”.
Since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen as President of Taiwan in 2016, the Government of the People’s Republic of China has intensified its efforts to pressure Taiwan through diplomatic isolation and military provocations.
The rapid modernization of the People’s Liberation Army and recent military maneuvers in and around the Taiwan Strait illustrate a clear threat to Taiwan’s security.
Sec. 3 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that members of the Chinese Communist Party, led by General Secretary Xi Jinping, are responsible for violations of Hong Kong’s autonomy, increased aggression against the people of Taiwan, numerous human rights violations against the people of Hong Kong and the people of Taiwan, and acts of repression and genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Sec. 4 Imposition of sanctions on members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
In general— Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to—
each person who is a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, including alternate members thereof, that the President determines engages in the conduct described in subsection (b);
each person who is a member of any successor organization of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party that the President determines engages in the conduct described in subsection (b), in the event that the Central Committee is dissolved;
each person who is an adult family member, including a spouse or an adult family member of the spouse, of a person described in paragraph (1) or paragraph (2); and
each person the President determines is a Chinese state-owned enterprise—
illegally manufacturing or distributing fentanyl; or
knowingly or intentionally manufacturing or distributing fentanyl precursor chemicals to be used in the illegal production or distribution of fentanyl.
Sanctionable conduct— A person engages in the conduct described by this subsection if the person plays a significant role in the development or implementation of government policies or laws that the President determines appear designed to—
violate the autonomy of Hong Kong;
harass, intimidate, or result in increased aggression towards the people of Taiwan;
contribute to political oppression or violation of human rights of individuals or societal groups within the People’s Republic of China, including Uyghur Muslims; or
willfully and knowingly engage in malicious activities, including online disinformation campaigns and propaganda, for the purpose of interfering with United States Federal, State, or local elections.
Sanctions described—
In general— The sanctions described in this subsection are the following:
Blocking of property— The President shall exercise all of the powers granted to the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of the person if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.
Aliens ineligible for visas, admission, or parole—
Visas, admission, or parole— An alien who the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or a designee of one of such Secretaries) knows, or has reason to believe, is described in subsection (a) is—
inadmissible to the United States;
ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and
otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
Current visas revoked—
In general— The issuing consular officer, the Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Homeland Security (or a designee of one of such Secretaries) shall, in accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), revoke any visa or other entry documentation issued to an alien described in clause (i) regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation is issued.
Effect of revocation— A revocation under subclause (I) shall take effect immediately and shall automatically cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien’s possession.
Exceptions—
United nations headquarters agreement— The sanctions described in paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply with respect to an alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the United States is necessary to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations.
Exception for intelligence, law enforcement, and national security activities— Sanctions under paragraph (1) shall not apply to any authorized intelligence, law enforcement, or national security activities of the United States.
Penalties— The penalties provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations promulgated to carry out this section or the sanctions imposed pursuant to this section to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act.
Implementation authority— The President may exercise all authorities provided to the President under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) for purposes of carrying out this section.
Regulatory authority— The President shall, not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, promulgate regulations as necessary for the implementation of this section.
Waiver— The President may, for one or more periods of not more than 60 days each, waive the application of sanctions or restrictions imposed with respect to a foreign person under this section if the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than 15 days before such waiver takes effect, that the waiver is vital to the national security interests of the United States.
Termination— The President may terminate any sanctions imposed under subsection (a) not fewer than 15 days after the date on which the President provides a written certification to the appropriate congressional committees, and concurrently publishes on a publicly available website of the Federal Government, that—
the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party have—
ceased the genocide of the Uyghur Muslim population, including verifiably shutting down all internment camps of Uyghurs and ending the practice of facilitating or supporting Uyghur forced labor and forced sterilization;
ceased all forms of oppression of the Tibetan people, including those significant human rights abuses detailed in the Tibet section of the Department of State’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices;
ceased all forms of threats, military exercises, and aggression toward Taiwan, including through verifiably, and for at least a period of one year, having not conducted any breach of Taiwan’s air space, territorial waters, or land mass, by any military or intelligence personnel associated with the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party, or any agency or instrumentality thereof;
ceased the undermining of the autonomy of Hong Kong, including through respecting the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and reversing all steps taken to interfere with the democratic process and governance of Hong Kong; and
ceased efforts to steal the intellectual property of United States persons; or
the sanctioned person has—
if the person is described in any of paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a)—
affirmatively renounced membership in the Chinese Communist Party; and
taken affirmative steps to denounce or remediate the conduct forming the basis for imposition of the sanction; or
if the person is described in paragraph (4) of subsection (a), taken affirmative steps to cease the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl or any precursor chemical known or intended to be used in the illegal production or distribution of fentanyl.
Sunset of waiver and license authorities— The President’s authority to issue waivers or licenses with respect to sanctions required by subsection (a), including pursuant to sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704), shall terminate on the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Exception relating to importation of goods—
In general— The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions authorized under this Act shall not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.
Good defined— In this subsection, the term “good” means any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.
Appropriate congressional committees defined— In this section, the term “appropriate congressional committees” means—
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.