King's China Surveillance Amendment Becomes Law with Trump's Signature on National Defense Authorization Act

Statement

Congressman Steve King releases the following video statement regarding the imminent enactment into law of an amendment he put in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which identifies China's growing surveillance state as a threat to the security interests of the United States. The NDAA is scheduled to signed into law by President Donald Trump at 7:30 PM in a ceremony held tonight at Joint Base Andrews.

Transcript of Congressman King's remarks:

"I'm happy to announce that the President's likely to soon sign the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. We did some really good things in that bill, and one of them is to give our troops a pay raise that's significant, and they deserve it. They put their lives on the line for us.

And another component is the King provision that is written into the bill that addresses the Chinese surveillance and their oppression of human liberty. They have been reaching into the communities around China, the Uighur community, the Christian communities that are there, persecuting them, taking their children out of the home and moving them into indoctrination camps, and putting Uighur's and other religious people into camps to orient them according to what they think is Chinese culture. Just suppressing human freedom.

So I asked for a report in there on how it [the Chinese Surveillance State] might affect our national defense, and what the Chinese are doing to suppress human freedom and human rights of thought, religion, and expression, not only in China, but around the world. So we will get a good look at what's going on in China and around the world as a result of the King provision that's in the NDAA. And I supported it along the way, and, of course, voted for it.

We are getting some things done in this Congress, in spite of the impeachment effort that has just unfolded recently."

King's China Surveillance Language:

The King provision appears in section 1260 of the NDAA. The relevant language reads as follows:

"(31) An assessment of China's expansion of its surveillance

state, including--

``(A) any correlation of such expansion with its oppression

of its citizens or its threat to United States national

security interests around the world; and

``(B) an overview of the extent to which such surveillance

corresponds to an overall respect, or lack thereof, for human

rights in China, especially for religious and ethnic

minorities.''.

See Also:

Dec 11, 2019- King Legislation Cracking Down on Chinese Surveillance State Moves One Step Closer to Becoming Law

July 12, 2019- House Passes King Amendment Targeting China's Abusive Surveillance State

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