House takes aim at Chinese economic, tech rivalry, human rights abuses in series of votes

The GOP-led House is set for a series of votes on Monday, including a bill to target Chinese economic and technological rivalry as well as legislation to combat human rights abuses, including forced organ harvesting.

The PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act would "direct the Secretary of State to take certain actions with respect to the labeling of the People's Republic of China as a developing country, and for other purposes."

Under the bill, the U.S. government would instead "pursue the labeling or treatment of the People's Republic of China as an upper middle income country, high income country, or developed country in each international organization of which the United States is a member."

The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023 is aimed at combating "forced organ harvesting and trafficking in persons for purposes of the removal of organs."

According a United Nations report from 2021, U.N. experts were alarmed by allegations of organ harvesting "targeting minorities, including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians, in detention in China."

The report stated that these experts had "received credible information that detainees from ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities may be forcibly subjected to blood tests and organ examinations such as ultrasound and x-rays, without their informed consent; while other prisoners are not required to undergo such examinations."

According to a McMaster University analysis, China is the "only country in the world to have an industrial-scale organ trafficking practice that harvests organs from executed prisoners of conscience."

In addition, the House is expected to take a vote on the Undersea Cable Control Act, which would require the U.S. government to develop a strategy to "eliminate the availability to foreign adversaries of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables."

House lawmakers are also expected to vote on a resolution "authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the National Peace Officers Memorial Service and the National Honor Guard and Pipe Band Exhibition."