US Bipartisan Lawmakers Seek to Sanction Biotech Companies WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics
Through a letter dated last Feb. 12, a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked officials of the Biden administration to sanction WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics. House Representatives Mike Gallagher (R – Wi) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill) together with Senators Gary Peters (D-Mi) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) addressed the letter to the Secretary of Commerce Dept. Gina Raimondo, the Secretary of Defense Dept. Lloyd Austin and the Secretary of the Treasury Dept. Janet Yellen.
The letter contained a request for them to review for sanctioning the aforementioned Chinese global pharmaceutical and biotech firms as they were found to have links with the Chinese Communist Party.
Moreover, the lawmakers want the Treasury Department to include the two firms in the list of complex companies identified as Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial firms.
Grounds on Which Lawmakers Base Their Recommendation for Sanctions
The group of lawmakers are basing their recommendation on reports published by Chinese university websites, media articles and public documents of the Chinese government.
Those sources carry information that attest to WuXi AppTec’s clear support for China’s actions against Muslim minorities in the province of Xinjiang. Previously, White House officials of the Biden Administration have accused Beijing of wreaking genocidal actions against the minorities in the region.
Other US documents also outline WuXi AppTec’s ties to the Chinese military through investments received by way of several Permanent Loan Agreements (PLAs). The report cited WuXi AppTec’s inclusion as one of the recipients of the Hybrid and Integration Selected AVIC Military-Civil Securities Investment.
The involvement of the biotech’s affiliate WuXi Biologics is through its CEO Chen Zhisheng. The latter was listed in 2018 by the Tsinghua University website as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences. Actually, the biotech affiliate is already included in the US Commerce Department’s listing of China entities placed under export control. This particular list restricts domestic sales to certain entities mentioned by the Pentagon in its “1260H” list, The latter conveys warnings against U.S. cooperation with the named firms.