House Passes Bill to Hold China Accountable for Violating US Airspace With Spy Balloon

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, on March 23, 2023. (Richard Moore/The Epoch Times)

The House passed a bill, 403-6, on April 17 to hold China accountable for violating U.S. airspace.

Two Republicans and four Democrats voted against the bill, which was introduced on Feb. 24 by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Upholding Sovereignty of Airspace Act seeks to hold China accountable for sending spy balloons to transit the United States.

Between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4, a Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. China was reportedly able to have the intelligence collected from the balloon transmitted back to Beijing.

The bill would require the secretary of state, in consultation with the director of national intelligence and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to “develop a diplomatic strategy to inform allies and partners of the scope of the PRC surveillance program and build global consensus in order to address the PRC’s global surveillance balloon program”—such as “sharing intelligence, as appropriate about [the People’s Republic of China’s] global balloon program and its past violation of the sovereign airspace of allies and partners.”

Another way would be “coordinating with United States allies and partners to identify and track future PRC surveillance balloons, counter PRC propaganda and misinformation about its global surveillance program, and publicly share any future violations of sovereignty.”

A third method would be “using the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United Nations and other international and regional organizations to spur greater diplomatic pressure on the PRC to halt its surveillance collection operations that violate international sovereignty.”

A fourth way would be “raising the challenges posed by the PRC’s global surveillance balloon program at major multilateral forums, including at the G7 and G20 summits.”

A fifth method would be “coordinating with allies and partners on the imposition and implementation of substantially similar sanctions and export controls to ensure that commodities, software, or technology from the United States and its allies and partners are not supporting the PRC’s global surveillance efforts.”

The secretary of state would have 180 days from the enactment of the bill to submit a report on the strategy to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The bill requires the secretary of commerce to “evaluate, for appropriate controls under the Export Administration Regulations, the export, reexport, and in-country transfer of the items and technologies subject to United States jurisdiction related to aerospace programs—including airships and balloons and related materials and components—that are used by the People’s Liberation Army for intelligence and reconnaissance.”

It would also require the secretary to submit a report to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee within 180 days of the enactment of the bill that has “a description of the types of items and technologies that were evaluated for potential controls” and “a list of the controls that [the Bureau of Industry and Security] has implemented or plans to implement because of its evaluation.”

BIS, which is part of the Commerce Department, deals with—among numerous matters—national security threats as it pertains to technologies and other items and enforces export controls.

Finally, the bill would allow the president, after 180 days of the bill’s enactment, to enact sanctions on individuals connected to China’s spy balloon program.