Gooden, Banks, Crenshaw Call for Magnitsky Act Sanctions on Chinese Communist Party Officials
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX) today joined colleagues Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) in sending a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin. The lawmakers urged the Trump Administration to impose sanctions on ten officials within the Chinese Communist Party, whom they considered to be responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. The executive branch was granted this authority through the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016.
The CCP officials named in their letter include:
- Chen Yongxin, Deputy Mayor of Wuhan, Director of Wuhan Municipal Health Commission
- Oversaw censorship and detainment of eight doctors in Wuhan for discussing the then unknown coronavirus.
- Li Yilong, Director, Wuhan Public Security Bureau; Xia Jianzhong, Former Deputy Director, Wuhan Public Security Bureau
- Oversaw arbitrary detention and disappearance of citizen-journalists for reporting on the coronavirus outbreak during its crucial early days.
- Ma Xiaowei, Minister, National Health Commission; Wang Hesheng, Vice-Minister, National Health Commission
- Issued directives and false public statements that interfered with the international community’s pandemic response and endangered their own citizens’ lives.
- Zhao Lijiang, Spokesperson, Foreign Ministry; Lin Songtian, Former Ambassador to South Africa
- Amplified unfounded speculation about the origin of coronavirus, including that it is a bioweapon exported to China by the U.S. military.
- Zhang Wei, Deputy Director, Hotan District Industry and Information Bureau
- Oversaw the re-location of 30,000 Uyghur laborers into closed factories.
- Chen Quango, Politburo Member, Xinjiang Autonomous Region
- Masterminded the expansion of “re-education camps” in Xinjiang and helped organize the surveillance apparatus used to monitor Uyghur Muslims.
- Chen Zongnian, Chairman, Hikvision
- Oversees the company that manufactures and supplies Xinjiang’s security services with surveillance equipment used to monitor its Uyghur minority.
On May 14, 2020, the Global Times, a state-owned propaganda outlet reported on Communist Party Officials plan to impose “severe consequences” which will, “impact the upcoming November elections,” on Reps. Gooden, Banks and Crenshaw.
Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX) - “If the actions of these individuals aren’t enough to earn a spot on the ‘Magnitsky List’, then I just don’t know what is. We are talking about the people who are directly responsible for downplaying the virus and suppressing the voices of those who rang the alarms. Such egregious violations of global human rights are exactly the kind of thing we should be using this authority to address."
Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN) - "The Chinese regime’s threat to interfere in American elections is just the latest of many aggressive, hostile actions. They are desperate to avoid responsibility, so they've reverted to desperate tactics. I’m neither surprised nor intimidated--I’m encouraged. I know Secretary Pompeo shares my dim view of the Communist Party, and I look forward to working with him, and Reps. Crenshaw and Gooden to hold Party officials accountable. Starting with the seven on that list, who have significantly harmed the global economy and contributed to the deaths of countless American and Chinese citizens."
Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) - “Applying Global Magnitsky sanctions to these Chinese Communist Party bad actors is a common sense step and within the original intent of the Magnitsky Act – punishing those who conduct gross human rights abuses and benefit from corruption. Unlike the CCP’s threats to sanction me, and other Members of Congress, we have a leg to stand on. The communist regime concealed vital information and allowed this pandemic to spread, which cost countless American lives and livelihoods. Now it is time for them to face the consequences.”