Senate Republicans Mobilizing To Confront China, Including Investigations, Sanctions And ‘Seizure Of Chinese Government Assets’

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Several Senate Republicans are mobilizing plans to confront China for its delay, cover up and suppression of critical information in the lead up to the global coronavirus pandemic, the Daily Caller has learned. Options on the table even include “authorizing U.S. courts to seize Chinese government assets” once an investigation “determine[s] the damages China owes the US — and the world.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to delay the release of information regarding its coronavirus outbreak, German intelligence reported. Xi met with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Jan. 21 to request that he withhold information and delay the declaration of a global pandemic, according to German magazine Der Spiegel’s report, published May 8.

“We now know that leaders at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party actively hid the coronavirus outbreak from the world, silencing those who tried to sound the alarm, prevent a global pandemic, and save lives,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told the Daily Caller. “Next week, I will introduce the Ending Chinese Medical Censorship and Cover Ups Act of 2020, just one of the legislative steps I am taking to hold the Chinese officials involved in medical censorship directly accountable.”

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The bill Cruz mentioned would impose targeted and heavy sanctions on those who were involved in the delay of the critical information and would also:

• “Prohibit, limit, or penalize the exercise of freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of the People’s Republic of China, including prohibitions, limitations, or penalties related to the use of social media; 

• Penalize citizens of the People’s Republic of China for the public dissemination of accurate epidemiological information, including information related to emerging diseases or pathogens; or 

• Limit access to print, broadcast, digital, or social media.”

Montana Sen. Steve Daines agrees with Cruz.

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