Chinese Military Company Backing Campaign to Tank Major National Security Bill Before Senate Vote

As the Senate prepares to review tough-on-China legislation, a Pentagon-designated “Chinese military company” is working overtime to torpedo a bill aimed at protecting American data from falling into the hands of Beijing.

Chinese-owned drone manufacturer Da Jiang Innovations (DJI) is the lead sponsor of The Drone Advocacy Alliance (DAA), an organization that carried out an extensive constituent mobilization campaign during August’s congressional recess, calling on citizens who use drones to contact their representatives to voice opposition to the “Countering CCP Drones Act.” The House voted overwhelmingly to pass the legislation on Monday, with the bill now heading to the Senate for further consideration.

The Department of Defense has flagged DJI as a “Chinese military company,” meaning that it is “directly or indirectly owned, controlled or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military or otherwise a “military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base.” DJI’s influence operation has exerted considerable pressure on Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who is sponsoring the Senate version of the legislation, his office shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Senator Scott has heard from dozens of constituents who are concerned about the lies being pushed by DJI and their lobbyists to undermine this good legislation,” a spokesperson for Scott told the DCNF. “Drones made by companies in adversarial nations, like Communist China’s DJI, are not allowed by United States Government entities and military because of the severe security risks they pose — for the safety of American families, we shouldn’t let them spy on the public either.”

The Countering CCP Drones Act, if passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden, would ban drones manufactured by DJI from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure, rendering the wirelessly controlled drones functionally unusable, according to Commercial UAV News. […]

— Read More: dailycallernewsfoundation.org