House Committee Chair Subpoenas State Department for China-Related Document

Rep. Michael McCaul speaks as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the Biden Administration's priorities for U.S. foreign policy on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 10, 2021. (Ken Cedeno-Pool/Getty Images)

The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed the State Department for documents relating to the agency’s reported decision to withhold actions aimed at confronting threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on July 12 that he has filed a subpoena to Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the department failed to cooperate with the committee’s document production request.

Among the materials Mr. McCaul subpoenaed is the department’s “competitive actions” calendar—a classified document reportedly laying out the Biden administration’s plan against communist China.

Citing unnamed sources and internal emails, Reuters reported in May that the U.S. State Department delayed several items on the classified list to “limit damage to the U.S.-China relationship” following the U.S. military’s shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon in February.

The report also quoted Rick Waters, deputy assistant secretary of State for China and Taiwan, telling staff in an email that “Guidance from S (Secretary of State) is to push non-balloon actions to the right so we can focus on symmetric and calibrated response. We can revisit other actions in a few weeks.” The email was dated Feb. 6—just two days after the giant Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down in U.S. airspace, and three days after Mr. Blinken postponed a planned trip to Beijing over the balloon episode.

The delayed measures included sanctioning Chinese officials over human rights abuses and imposing export controls targeting Chinese telecoms supplier Huawei, according to the report.

Following the report, Mr. McCaul sent a letter (pdf) to Mr. Blinken on May 19, stating that such measures demonstrated the department’s “continued weakness and passivity” in the face of Chinese aggression.

The chairman requested that the State Department hand over a number of documents, including communications relating to the Chinese regime and its entities that involved Blinken or other key State Department officials since last October; information relating to staffing arrangements at China House; top State Department officials’ engagements with their Chinese counterparts; and other documents detailing department policy with China following the Chinese spy balloon incident.

But Mr. McCaul said Wednesday that the agency had not complied with his request.

“Given the State Department’s continued refusal to comply with my committee’s urgent request for crucial information related to China, I am left with no choice but to issue a subpoena,” Mr. McCaul said in a statement.

“It is vital the committee obtain these documents to shed light on the department’s reported failure to enforce U.S. national security laws against CCP companies and human rights abusers,“ he said. ”The department must comply as legally obligated, further obstruction and delay will not be tolerated.”

The Texas Republican set a July 17 deadline for the State Department to produce the required documents.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (center, without mask) meets with China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on June 18, 2023. (Leah Millis/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Asked about Mr. McCaul’s move at Wednesday’s briefing, Matthew Miller, a spokesperson of the Department of State, said the agency was in the midst of the negotiation process with the House Committee.

The department was “holding those discussions with an eye toward turning over documents when they short-circuited the process and issued this subpoena,” he told reporters.

The State Department is facing a growing number of congressional inquiries, he said, including those from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“We will, of course, continue to try to respond to their requests in a timely manner,” he said. “We have to balance that with the growing number of congressional inquiries we have gotten, including from this committee, and the committee’s shifting priorities when they issue a range of document requests.”

Mr. Miller also defended the Biden administration’s stance on the Chinese regime, saying the administration has done more to counter the communist regime than any other administration in recent memory.

“We are clear-eyed about the challenge, and our actions back that up,” he said. “Since President Biden has taken office, this administration has issued a record-setting number of sanctions, export controls, [and] competitive actions” against the Chinese regime, he said.

When Mr. Blinken visited Beijing in June, “One of the things we heard over and over from Chinese officials is their deep protests and their deep complaints about the competitive actions that we have taken,” he said. Mr. Blinken also made clear to Chinese officials that “we stand by the actions that we have taken, and we will continue to impose additional costs” on the Chinese regime.

Eva Fu contributed to this report.