Walden, McCaul, McHenry call on Trump to sanction China for cyberattacks against U.S.

U.S. Reps. Greg Walden (R-OR), Michael McCaul (R-TX), and Patrick McHenry (R-NC) urged consequences against China for its ongoing, aggressive cybersecurity attacks against the United States.

“By decades of not taking principled stands or enforcing violations of commitments, the United States has allowed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to proceed down another path, which threatens U.S. and global security,” the lawmakers wrote in a July 20 letter sent to President Donald Trump.

Specifically, the congressmen expressed “significant concerns” about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) continued malicious cyberattacks on Americans, their financial institutions and the U.S. government.

“As the world responds to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis exacerbated by the CCP cover-up, the PRC’s cyberattacks have only grown more aggressive,” wrote the members.

To send a clear message to the PRC, Reps. Walden, McCaul, and McHenry, the Republican leaders of the Energy & Commerce Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, and Financial Services Committee, respectively, requested in their letter that Trump consider utilizing his ability under existing authorities to sanction PRC-linked hackers.

“These actions must have consequences,” wrote the lawmakers. “If we do not utilize our sanctions strategically in response to bad acts, our sanctions regime loses its deterrent effect, and we will only see these cyberattacks from the PRC further escalate.”

The representatives also requested a classified briefing from the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. State Department, as well as any other agency the president deems appropriate, to update them on the scope, number and success rate of such attacks, as well as any plans the Treasury Department has to target the PRC-linked hackers, according to their letter.