Bipartisan House effort seeks sanctions for Chinese firms backing Russian invasion of Ukraine

This week, a collection of Republican and Democratic legislators introduced a bill to sanction any Chinese military firm supporting Russia.

In the NO LIMITS ACT, U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), John Moolenaar (R-MI), and Jared Golden (D-ME) proposed blanket sanctions for any such firm providing material support to Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, and would give any Chinese military firms identified by the U.S. government 180 days to withdraw from the Russian market. Failure to do so would not result in steady increases in sanctions; it would lead to full blocks.

“For years, the Chinese Communist Party has provided Russia with lethal aid to prop up Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine and advance the interests of this axis of authoritarian regimes,” Gallagher said. “Any company aiding and abetting the horrors in Ukraine- as the Chinese defense industrial complex has done- deserves to experience the full force of American sanctions. It’s time to put a financial cost on the CCP’s ‘no limits’ partnership with Russia.”

The bill as proposed would also update governmental powers to give the president discretionary authority to sanction any Chinese firm involved in military modernization. Existing such authorities have largely focused on human rights concerns. NO LIMITS would also direct the Biden administration to determine if sanctions should be imposed on other Chinese entities that participate in overseas arms sales, and to identify export-controlled technologies at-risk of diversion through China.

“The Chinese Communist Party supplying modern, lethal aid to the Russian military and its associated paramilitary groups puts us, our interests, and our allies at risk,” Panetta said. “This bipartisan legislation would counter and hold CCP firms accountable for their support of Russia’s aggressive, destabilizing actions around the world. The United States has a responsibility to confront all those who threaten or undermine our shared democratic values.”

The representatives’ hope is that the mere threat of U.S. sanctions would, by and large, force Chinese military firms to back down and divest from the Russian market. While many nations have sanctioned Russia since the start of its war in Ukraine, China has been resolute in its support.

“Russia’s aggressive push for territorial expansion is a direct threat not only to the sovereignty of Ukraine, but to the American-led security framework established after World War II,” Golden said. “Vladimir Putin is testing boundaries in a way we haven’t seen since Hitler invaded Poland.”