The two houses of the United States have proposed a bill to "drive BGI out of the US market"
According to media reports such as NBC and Reuters, on January 25, local time, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives respectively proposed a "biosafety bill" against Chinese biotechnology companies such as BGI Group and WuXi AppTec on the grounds of "protecting genetic data and national security". If passed, the bill would restrict Chinese companies such as BGI from obtaining genetic information about Americans from U.S. federally funded medical institutions.
At the first Chain Expo, the audience visited the booth of Huada Group /IC Photo
According to reports, the "U.S.-China Special Committee on Strategic Competition" (hereinafter referred to as the "China Committee") established by the U.S. House of Representatives announced the bill on the 25th local time. According to the committee, the bill targets Chinese enterprise BGI Group and its subsidiaries BGI and MGI, as well as Wuxi AppTec New Drug Development Co., Ltd. ("WuXi AppTec"). Mike Gallagher, chairman of the China Committee, said BGI remains the leading supplier of gene sequencing equipment in the U.S. market, "and we think that's terrible, and that's what we're trying to prevent."
The U.S. Senate introduced a similar bill on the same day, which was supported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. NBC reported that the bills, if passed, would effectively restrict BGI from doing business in the United States, and with bipartisan and bipartisan support, supporters of the bills believe that it is likely to pass. Reuters reported that the bills are still a long way from becoming law.
In addition to requiring restrictions on the sharing of "American genetic information" with Chinese companies such as BGI, the bills would also prohibit BGI or any company that uses its technology from obtaining U.S. federal contracts. Raja Krishnamosi, a veteran Democratic lawmaker from the China Committee, said the bill would create a framework to prevent U.S. taxpayers' money from flowing to "biotech entities of concern." The bill would allow the U.S. government to exclude BGI from Medicare and Medicaid, which would cut its market in the U.S., the sources said.
The reason for the US House of Representatives to introduce the relevant bill is still to prevent China from "seizing US genetic information" in order to "protect US national security". Gary Peters, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the bill would protect U.S. personal health and genetic information "from foreign adversaries who have the ability and the motive to use that information" to undermine U.S. national security. For his part, Krishnamosi said, "Closing this loophole is the first step in protecting the U.S. bioeconomy and national security and ensuring the security of our genomic data."
U.S. Capitol /IC Photo
According to reports, on January 26, after the news of the relevant bill, the stock prices of WuXi AppTec and WuXi listed companies dived. WuXi AppTec issued a clarification announcement on the evening of the 26th, saying that the content of the bill about WuXi AppTec is "neither appropriate nor accurate", that WuXi AppTec's business development "will not pose a risk to the security of any country", and that "the company has always complied with the laws and regulations of the countries where it operates, including China and the United States".
According to Yicai, WuXi Biologics CEO Chen Zhisheng responded: "This is just an anti-China congressman's proposal, and it is a very unlikely event to become law, and it will take several years." I also personally did not serve in any military agency. We will make an announcement as soon as possible to clarify. ”
The stock prices of BGI and MGI, which are mentioned in the relevant bills, also fell sharply on the same day. According to the surging news report, the staff of BGI said that for the news of the legislative plan from the outside world, it is still doing internal evaluation, and the progress of the relevant assessment is not necessarily, and it will be evaluated as soon as possible, so investors are requested to wait patiently. As for the stock price fluctuation, this is affected by many factors, and it cannot be said that this event is related to the stock price.
The U.S. has been hyping up "genetic security" to suppress Chinese companies. Bill Evanina, a former top U.S. counterintelligence official who retired in 2021, said he had been promoting the threat of BGI and other Chinese companies "collecting genetic data" for years, and claimed that both BGI and Huawei were using "legitimate corporate identities to cover up the nefarious purpose of intelligence collection."
In March 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce added 28 Chinese entities, including BGI's subsidiaries and subsidiaries, to a "trade blacklist." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that this is another example of the United States fabricating excuses and unscrupulously suppressing Chinese companies. China strongly deplores and resolutely opposes this. We urge the US to respect basic facts, abandon ideological bias, stop abusing various pretexts to unreasonably suppress Chinese companies, and provide fair, just and non-discriminatory treatment. China will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of its own enterprises, and support Chinese enterprises in safeguarding their rights and interests in accordance with the law.
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