DC City Council Chairman: Chinese Communist Party Has First Amendment Rights in Nation’s Capital

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Leaders of the nation’s capital defended the First Amendment rights of the Chinese Communist Party Tuesday, shrugging off national security concerns about Washington, D.C.’s decades long sister city relationship with Beijing.

Michigan Congressman John Moolenaar questioned DC Mayor Muriel Bowser about the district’s troubling sister city relationship during a hearing of the House Appropriation Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, where he expressed concerns about the CCP taking advantage as part of a broader influence campaign.

“Our nation’s capital should be a celebration of our nation’s founding principles and the inalienable rights we enjoy as Americans. Having a sister city relationship with Beijing is a betrayal of those values and the District should end this relationship immediately,” Moolenaar said in a statement following the hearing.

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“I hope that one day the liberties we enjoy as Americans will be enjoyed by the Chinese people,” he said, “but until that day comes, Washington D.C. should stand for freedom and not with the Chinese Communist Party.”

On Tuesday, Moolenaar noted DC and Beijing have been sister cities for 40 years, despite vastly different approaches to civil and human rights, and the CCP has leveraged those relationships “to exert influence over foreign governments, officials and businesses.”

“Given the nefarious nature behind the sister city program, as well as the horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by the CCP, how do you justify continuing this relationship with Beijing?” Moolenaar asked Bowser.

The mayor pointed to guidance from the U.S. State Department and suggested the sister city relationship is not “high-level diplomacy,” then shifted to focus on DC’s sister city program more broadly.

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Moolenaar noted the State Department for both the Biden and Trump administrations have detailed a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in China by the CCP. He also raised questions about the CCP’s China Daily newspaper that’s distributed in news boxes across the city, and how DC officials regulate those boxes.

“We don’t regulate and it’s very difficult for us to regulate, because of First Amendment issues,” Phil Mendelson, chair of the DC City Council, told Moolenaar.

“If it’s an arm of the Chinse Communist Party, and they can put them anywhere in Washington, DC, does that concern you?” the congressman pressed.

“I know you’re getting at content, and content is very difficult for us to regulate,” Mendelson said.

“Do you believe the Chinese Communist Party has First Amendment Rights …?” Moolenaar replied.

“I hate the way you phrase it, but I think the simple answer is we as a government cannot discriminate based on content,” Mendelson said.

Moolenaar turned the conversation to Michigan, where he noted a Chinese national studying at the University of Michigan voted illegally in the 2024 election, due in part to same day voter registration, which is also permitted in DC.

Moolenaar noted the vote could not be retrieved, so it was included in election day totals, and questioned what, if anything, DC officials are doing to prevent a similar situation.

Bowser pointed to the District of Columbia Board of Elections, but could not elaborate on protections in place to prevent non-citizens from casting ballots.

“But how would you prevent that, if it’s only proof of residency (required to vote) and a Chinese national is a resident here in Washington, DC?” Moolenaar questioned again.

“I don’t want to speak for the board of elections who has that responsibility for administering the rules, and they know the eligibility requirements for any voter,” Bowser said, detailing numerous ways residents can cast ballots in federal elections.

The exchange comes amid increasing concerns about CCP influence and espionage operations in the U.S., with Moolenaar leading the charge in Washington to limit risks to national security.

The congressman has repeatedly pointed to a CCP-linked Gotion electric vehicle battery component plant planned for Mecosta County, and an economic development deal secretly negotiated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and top Democrats that contributed $715 million in taxpayer subsidies.

The planned Gotion facility outside of Big Rapids is located roughly 88 miles south of the Michigan National Guard’s Camp Grayling, where servicemembers train with Taiwanese soldiers, and just a few miles from Ferris State University’s AI laboratory, which contracts with the Department of Defense.

In early October, federal prosecutors charged five University of Michigan graduates from China with spying on Camp Graying during a military exercise involving the Taiwanese, and Moolenaar cited that incident and the illegal vote in November in calling on Michigan officials to take action to counter CCP influence in the Great Lakes State.

“Governor Whitmer must cancel the state’s $715 million giveaway of taxpayer money to CCP-affiliated Gotion and end its plans to build near Camp Grayling,” Moolenaar said. “U-M President Santa Ono needs to shut down his university’s institute with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which collaborates with China’s military.

“Until these actions happen, our state’s security, elections, universities, and auto supply chains will remain vulnerable to CCP influence,” he said.

Moolenaar has also called on Whitmer to issue a statement regarding the CCP espionage incident at Camp Graying, face questions about why the Michigan National Guard failed to stop the espionage, and to call on the legislature to block state funding for the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

In the weeks since, none of those things have happened.