[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 132 (Tuesday, August 7, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 5515, NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR 
                            FISCAL YEAR 2019

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. BRENDAN F. BOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2018

  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank 
the FY19 NDAA conferees for their hard work on this important piece of 
legislation. There are many good, important provisions in this bill, 
including several of my own amendments. However, I am here today to 
express my disappointment that the Senate provision which would have 
reinstated penalties against ZTE was stripped out of the final 
conference report.
  No nation steals American intellectual property or spies on America 
more than China, and Chinese telecommunication companies are among the 
most powerful tools they use to do this. In April 2018, the Commerce 
Department issued a seven-year ban on U.S. companies working with ZTE 
due to its illegal sales to North Korea and Iran. Following President 
Trump's negotiations on trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping, 
Secretary Wilbur Ross announced an alternative set of penalties that 
would allow the company to keep operating in the U.S. market. The 
Senate provision would have required the President to certify that 
Chinese telecoms had not violated U.S. laws and cooperated with U.S. 
investigators for a full year before granting relief from civil 
penalties.
  ZTE is a notorious ``bad actor'' on several policy fronts, and has 
blatantly violated and ignored U.S. law. The Chinese telecom company is 
a consistent violator of U.S. intellectual property rights, sued 
multiple times by U.S. companies for intellectual property violations. 
The vast majority of these lawsuits have been successful.
  Our intellectual property laws set us apart from the rest of the 
world. They have been and remain critical to fostering American 
innovation. As the Administration develops its policies on China and 
ZTE, it cannot forget that ZTE's rogue behavior with regard to 
intellectual property is a critical element of the problem and must be 
addressed in any solution.

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