Peters Calls on Administration to Investigate Chinese Biotech Company WuXi AppTec

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the Departments of Treasury, Defense, and Commerce encouraging 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.

“WuXi AppTec is a biotechnology company based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and is closely affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA),” wrote Senator Peters and the lawmakers in a letter. “Therefore, we request you consider adding them 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.”

“Biotechnology is rapidly becoming a key component of our technological competition with the CCP and other U.S. adversaries. It is therefore important that the U.S. Government use its licensing, sanctions, and related tools to address the risks of any PRC biotechnology company that threatens U.S. national security by carrying out human rights abuses or advancing PLA capabilities,” continued Senator Peters and the lawmakers.

In January, the lawmakers introduced a bill to help prevent foreign adversaries from stealing sensitive American genetic data and personal health information.

Click HERE to read the letter.  

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