US House committee subpoenas State Department for China docs

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul has subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken for documents related to the administration's action on China, his office announced Wednesday.

The legal document seeking the State Department documents was delivered to Blinken on Tuesday, McCaul's office said in a statement. The committee is seeking calendars, and records "relating to the department’s reported obstruction of the use of national security tools," including sanctions and export controls on China.

“Given the State Department’s continued refusal to comply with my committee’s urgent request for crucial information related to China, I am left with no choice but to issue a subpoena," McCaul said in a statement.

"It is vital the committee obtain these documents to shed light on the department’s reported failure to enforce U.S. national security laws against CCP companies and human rights abusers. The department must comply as legally obligated, further obstruction and delay will not be tolerated," he added.

McCaul was referring to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The subpoena comes as the Biden administration seeks to remedy badly-tattered US-Sino relations that have grown increasingly fraught amid tensions on Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade and North Korea.

McCaul and other Republicans have been pressing for a more hardline approach against Beijing.

The chairman in May sent a request to Blinken for documents purportedly relating to the State Department's blocking of sanctions and export cubs on Chinese entities, including business giant Huawei.