Lawfare orchestrated by the Chinese regime causes a chilling effect in the United States, witnesses said.
WASHINGTON—The Chinese Communist Party has been exploiting the U.S. courts to censor critics and advance its own interests at the expense of the United States, experts told a congressional panel on July 22.
The regime’s scheme, also called legal warfare or lawfare, includes using third parties to file lawsuits against the regime’s targets and burdening them with heavy legal fees, as well as gaming U.S. laws to shield Chinese bad actors from consequences, the panel members said.
“Beijing works to shape U.S. laws and regulations and their implementation, in many cases via U.S. entities that have been co-opted by dependence on or resources from the PRC,” said Emily de La Bruyère, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, using the acronym for People’s Republic of China.
The regime has proved itself willing to “use the U.S. legal system to punish those who stand in its way,” she said.
“All of that is not new,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, said in his opening statement. “We see it in criminal operations, in human trafficking, in drug smuggling, in commercial fraud, and that is not limited to any one country, but the fact that it’s backed by a powerful country who is using and weaponizing this is particularly disturbing.
“This is over and above the 10,000 attacks a day that occur on the internet. This is over and above their spying. This is over and above the abuses that occur on companies in China. This is, in fact, using our patent system, our trademark system, and our courts to their advantage. We take this seriously, that we will not be abused any longer.”
‘Cartel’
One victim of China’s lawfare is Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, a leading U.S. iron casting and pipe manufacturing company. At the hearing, its senior vice president, Bradford Muller, said that the company has spent roughly $7 million to defend its products against Chinese rivals, which sell at otherwise impossibly low prices after evading U.S. tariffs through third countries.
By Eva Fu
