CHINA-US: US CONGRESS TO IMPOSE CURBS ON CHINESE INFLUENCE OPERATIONS IN USA
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The US newspaper Washington Free Beacon on June 4, 2018 reported that members of the US Congress are moving ahead with legislation seeking curbs on Chinese government influence operations in the United States. They plan to introduce legislation called the "Countering the Chinese Government and Communist Party’s Political Influence Operations Act of 2018", on June 4 which would would require Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes operating on American university campuses to register as foreign agents and also require US Intelligence agencies to provide a detailed report on Beijing's extensive covert and overt influence operations. A congressional aide familiar with the bill said the measure would supplement concerns expressed about Chinese influence operations contained in the fiscal 2019 defense authorization bill. He said "This legislation and the NDAA language demonstrate the growing resolve to better understand and counter the Chinese government’s political influence operations in the U.S. and outside." A key element will be requiring Confucius Institutes—identified by the FBI as cover for Chinese intelligence and influence operations—to register under the Foreign Agents' Registration Act. The bill also will seek to provide Sense of Congress' resolutions that would call for greater law-enforcement and intelligence protection of Chinese-Americans and visiting Chinese students and faculty that have been targeted for harassment and coercion by the Chinese government.
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