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Washington, DC – After the Biden Administration’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, caused heads to turn by refusing to commit to keeping Huawei on the Entity List, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki seemed to double down by declining on two separate occasions when directly asked to say where President Biden stood on the issue. Huawei was placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List in August of 2019. Their addition to the Entity List was also one of the recommendations of the China Task Force Report. Below is a statement from House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul calling on the U.S. Senate to hold Ms. Raimondo’s confirmation until the Biden Administration gives a clear answer on whether they intend to keep Huawei on the Entity List. 

“It is incredibly alarming the Biden Administration has refused to commit to keeping Huawei on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List. Huawei is not a normal telecommunications company – it is a CCP military company that threatens 5G security in our country, steals U.S. intellectual property, and supports the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide in Xinjiang and their human rights abuses across the country. We need a Commerce Department with strong national security credentials and a Secretary with a clear understanding of the CCP threat. Saying people should not use Huawei and actually keeping them on the Entity List are two very different things that result in very different outcomes. I again strongly urge the Biden Administration to reconsider this dangerous position. Until they make their intentions clear on whether they will keep Huawei on the Entity List, I urge my Senate colleagues to hold Ms. Raimondo’s confirmation.”

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