新闻来源：www.bloomberg.com
原文地址：China Biotech Companies BGI, Wuxi AppTec Targeted by US House Bill
新闻日期：2024-09-09
美国众议院通过「Biosecure Act」法案
美国众议院昨天晚上通过了一项名为「Biosecure Act」的法案，将禁止中国生物技术公司及其美国子公司的活动。该法案现已提交至参议院。
根据法案，BGI Group、MGI等五家公司将会被纳入黑名单。相关公司包括：BGİ Co.、MGI Inc.、Co. 和 。WuXi AppTec和WuXi Biologics在上周二表示，它们无需担心，因为这些公司没有对美国或任何其他国家构成安全风险。
BGI Group表示，自己严格遵守规则和法律，并且不持有美国人个人数据。
中国外交部发言人昨天在北京的例行记者会上说，中国反对这项法案，称其可能采取「歧视性措施」针对中国企业。中国将继续坚定地保护自己公司的合法权益。
原文摘要：
Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks global trade. . China hawks in the US House overcame a last-ditch lobbying effort and passed legislation Monday night that would blacklist Chinese biotech companies and their US subsidiaries.The bill, approved by a vote of 306 to 81, now goes to the Senate.At stake, the bill’s backers argued, is whether a rival will dominate another field the US pioneered, amid fears China could engineer bioweapons or otherwise capitalize on biological data vacuumed up from the rest of the world.The legislation which passed the House Oversight Committee 40-1 in May, would affect five companies to start: BGI Group, BGI spinoffs Co. and MGI’s US subsidiary Inc., Co., and . On Tuesday, WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics they did not pose a security risk to the US or any nation, according to filings to the Hong Kong stock exchange. BGI Group in a statement that it strictly follows rules and laws, and has no access to Americans’ personal data.Shares of Wuxi Biologics pared a drop to close down 3.9% in Hong Kong, while WuXi AppTec slid 10%, the most in nearly six months. The declines also dragged other biotech shares lower. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said her nation opposed the bill, describing it in a regular press briefing in Beijing as potentially taking “discriminatory measures” against the nation’s firms.China “will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its own companies,” she added.Read More: Dubbed the Biosecure Act, the measure is the latest power flex by lawmakers who have already succeeded this year in requiring Chinese-based parent company to divest from TikTok or face a US ban on the popular social media site. Bloomberg Intelligence gives the biosecurity bill given strong support in both the House and the Senate. Numerous other bills targeting China are set for votes this week, including legislation targeting the Chinese supply chains for electric vehicles as well as other industries.The companies, whose stocks have fallen this year amid the blacklisting effort, have argued they aren’t a national security threat and are focused on health innovation. Complete Genomics has said the bill would bolster the already dominant market share of US rival , and said it sells DNA sequencing machines but does not collect or access genetic data, which is controlled by their clients. Complete Genomics expressed disappointment after the vote and that the legislation would inhibit research and wouldn’t protect data.A prominent House Democrat, Representative of Massachusetts, tried to persuade colleagues to sink the bill, sending a letter arguing that it selects companies to punish with no clear standard and should be reworked. “In the United States of America, Congress does not just pick companies to punish at random with no clear criteria or due process,” wrote McGovern, who also opposed the TikTok measure. He pointed out that his own work against the Chinese regime led Beijing to sanction him last month.While McGovern’s concerns were ignored by most of the House, he did win over Representative of Maryland, a fellow Democrat who had backed the measure in committee. Raskin said he had been assured his concerns about how the bill was drafted would be addressed before it reached the floor, but said they weren’t.Read More: Like McGovern, he said the underlying issue was that Congress shouldn’t be targeting individual companies, and instead ought to set rules and task agencies with enforcing them.“We should be setting forth the law, not implementing the law,” said Raskin, a constitutional law professor.Complete Genomics announced in May it’s opening a lab in Massachusetts’ high-tech corridor, near McGovern’s district. And China-based WuXi Biologics announced in January it is expanding a facility in his district, which is to add 200 new jobs.McGovern said on the House floor Monday he would be prepared to shut down companies, even the one in his district, if there was evidence of bad behavior. “This is how they do things in China. The PRC officials decide they don’t like you — so they blackball you,” he said of the legislation. Representative , an Ohio Republican and the bill’s primary sponsor, said the companies were named because they are aligned with the Chinese Communist Party, which is intent on dominating the biotech industry, and said millions of Americans’ data is potentially at risk.After the vote, Speaker ’s office said in a statement that he “is not stopping here and is committed to advancing further China-related legislation on investments and other predatory practices.” The legislation also has implications for the global pharmaceutical industry, as much of the world’s drug supply chain includes active ingredients produced by Chinese biotechnology companies.Read More: Companies and researchers that receive US funding could continue using the Chinese companies’ products, like Complete Genomics’ DNA sequencing machines, until 2032 under existing contracts via a grandfather clause.Efforts to prevent the measure from becoming law now move to the slower-moving Senate, where any member can complicate passage for the majority. , a libertarian-minded Kentucky Republican who was the sole vote against a Senate version of the biosecurity bill in committee, told Bloomberg in July he’d block quick passage of the legislation.“I think it’s a mistake to let hysteria over China stop international trade,” he said, warning that “trade isolationism” could lead to war.But Paul’s opposition may not be enough to sink the bill entirely. Senators are discussing adding the legislation to the chamber’s annual defense policy bill.
