East Michigan News

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party convened a hearing this morning titled "How the CCP Uses the Law to Silence its Critics and Enforce its Rule." The session featured testimonies from Mr. Jamil Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute; Ms. Anna Puglisi, Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution; and Dr. Jill Goldenziel, Professor at the National Defense University, College of Information and Cyberspace.

Chairman John Moolenaar opened the hearing with remarks emphasizing the lack of justice and free speech in China. He stated, “In China, there is no justice. There are no rights. There is no free speech. There is no rule of law. General Secretary Xi Jinping has said the judicial and law enforcement departments should hold the absolute leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi added, “The CCP views the law as a sword to use against its opponents, and a shield to protect its interests.”

Mr. Jamil Jaffer responded to Chairman Moolenaar's question regarding Chinese crane manufacturer ZPMC’s refusal to cooperate in a Select Committee investigation due to China's national security law. He remarked, “It tips us off. If these cranes have questions about state secrets… what does that say about what ZPMC is doing with those cranes?”

Ms. Anna Puglisi testified after being threatened by Chinese biotech company BGI Genomics for exposing CCP links: “Speaking up today may put me in further jeopardy. But if we begin to self-censor based on the actions of an authoritarian regime, we become more like them and less like an open democracy.”

Dr. Jill Goldenziel discussed how Chinese scholars view legal warfare as a form of combat: “[Chinese] scholars view legal warfare as a form of combat in its own right.” She continued, “The goal of legal warfare is to factionalize the PRC’s adversaries and weaken their will to fight.”