The president issued a memorandum to address the Chinese Communist Party’s transnational repression targeting individuals and businesses.
WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Dec. 12 announced the establishment of a task force to “monitor and address the effects” of any attempts by the Chinese regime to censor or intimidate individuals or businesses in the United States.
The action is in response to Beijing’s increasing efforts to silence critics living in the United States.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules the People’s Republic of China (PRC), conducts one of the most sophisticated and extensive campaigns of transnational repression in the world, according to human rights groups.
Biden issued a memorandum to address this issue by establishing the “China Censorship Monitor and Action Group” within the executive office. He directed the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and the director of the National Economic Council to lead the task force.
The group will develop a “strategy to monitor and address the effects of any efforts by the PRC to censor or intimidate, in the United States or in any of its possessions or territories, any United States person, including a United States company that conducts business in the PRC, exercising its freedom of speech,” according to the memorandum.
The task force will include representatives from various departments and agencies and gather input from stakeholders in the private sector and the media. The group will issue an annual report to the president and the appropriate congressional committees.
“This is a good start,” Michael Sobolik, senior fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, wrote on X.
This is a good start. The Trump administration should continue this task force — with one additional (and very important) change.
— Michael Sobolik (@michaelsobolik) December 13, 2024
Trump should expand the group’s parameters to examine CCP censorship not only within America, but also within China. That’s where the party’s fears… https://t.co/cxa7vMr2NS
“The Trump administration should continue this task force—with one additional (and very important) change. Trump should expand the group’s parameters to examine CCP censorship not only within America but also within China. That’s where the party’s fears about free speech are greatest. It’s where the CCP is weakest.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long censored critics at home and, in recent years, has intensified efforts to extend that censorship globally, aiming to block any criticism of its ongoing human rights abuses.
By Emel Akan
