The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed the State Department for documents relating to the agency’s reported decision to withhold actions aimed at confronting threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Among the materials Mr. McCaul subpoenaed is the department’s “competitive actions” calendar—a classified document reportedly laying out the Biden administration’s plan against communist China.
The delayed measures included sanctioning Chinese officials over human rights abuses and imposing export controls targeting Chinese telecoms supplier Huawei, according to the report.
The chairman requested that the State Department hand over a number of documents, including communications relating to the Chinese regime and its entities that involved Blinken or other key State Department officials since last October; information relating to staffing arrangements at China House; top State Department officials’ engagements with their Chinese counterparts; and other documents detailing department policy with China following the Chinese spy balloon incident.
But Mr. McCaul said Wednesday that the agency had not complied with his request.
“It is vital the committee obtain these documents to shed light on the department’s reported failure to enforce U.S. national security laws against CCP companies and human rights abusers,“ he said. ”The department must comply as legally obligated, further obstruction and delay will not be tolerated.”
The Texas Republican set a July 17 deadline for the State Department to produce the required documents.
Asked about Mr. McCaul’s move at Wednesday’s briefing, Matthew Miller, a spokesperson of the Department of State, said the agency was in the midst of the negotiation process with the House Committee.
The department was “holding those discussions with an eye toward turning over documents when they short-circuited the process and issued this subpoena,” he told reporters.
“We will, of course, continue to try to respond to their requests in a timely manner,” he said. “We have to balance that with the growing number of congressional inquiries we have gotten, including from this committee, and the committee’s shifting priorities when they issue a range of document requests.”
Mr. Miller also defended the Biden administration’s stance on the Chinese regime, saying the administration has done more to counter the communist regime than any other administration in recent memory.
“We are clear-eyed about the challenge, and our actions back that up,” he said. “Since President Biden has taken office, this administration has issued a record-setting number of sanctions, export controls, [and] competitive actions” against the Chinese regime, he said.