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White House under fire over US-China bilateral activities

Franklinwolf.jpgA US congressman who pushed through a ban on some bilateral China-US scientific activities has asked

the US attorney general to remedy an alleged violation by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The request seems likely to add to the heat on OSTP director John Holdren over the issue. Holdren has steadfastly continued two programs involving discussion with China despite a section of the Continuing Appropriations Act for 2011 banning his office and NASA from engaging in bilateral activities with China.

Republican congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia (pictured) is a fierce China hawk and as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that handles science had pushed for the language to be included because he believes such bilateral activities may help China militarily and in espionage against the US.

The two programs at the center of the dispute are called the Innovation Policy Dialogue and the Strategic and Economic Dialogue. On 11 October, a report from the General Accountability Office (GAO), which had been asked by Wolf to look into the matter, concluded that they involved expenditures that violated the Appropriations Act. Furthermore the spending was allegedly a breach of the Antideficiency Act, which says that officials of the US government may not authorize spending without authorization from Congress.

The GAO specifically flagged meetings and a dinner between US and Chinese officials that took place between 6-10 May 2011 and that cost around $3500.

OSTP told the GAO that the purpose of the Innovation Dialogue is to “serve as a forum for persuading the rollback of discriminatory, counterproductive Chinese procurement and intellectual property policies…” while topics in the S&ED involve “enhancement of trade and investment cooperation.” OSTP did not immediately respond to Nature’s request for comment on the GAO findings, but Holdren and the Office have made clear they regard the ban on bilateral activities as an unconstitutional limitation of US President Barack Obama’s freedom to engage in diplomacy. A Department of Justice memo had sanctioned that opinion, saying that bilateral activities that counted as diplomacy could go ahead and Holdren could be a designated agent of the President to conduct them.

Wolf says in his letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder at the US Department of Justice that he expects Holder to rescind the memo and “hold Dr Holdren to full account for his violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act by ensuring that he complies with all reporting requirements and other provisions of that law.”

Image: Frank Wolf / Official Congressional Portrait

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