S. 2960 — Deter PRC Aggression Against Taiwan Act

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the United States must be prepared to immediately impose sanctions on any military or non-military entities owned, controlled, or acting at the direction of the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) or the Chinese Communist Party that support PRC or Chinese Communist Party actions (1) to overthrow or dismantle governing institutions in Taiwan; (2) to occupy territory controlled or administered by Taiwan; (3) to violate Taiwan's territorial integrity; or (4) to take significant action against Taiwan, including conducting a naval blockade, seizing an outlying island, or perpetrating a significant physical or cyber attack that erodes the ability of Taiwan's governing institutions to operate or provide essential services.

This section defines key terms for the Act, including (1) "appropriate congressional committees" as the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Finance, and the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means; (2) "PRC" as the People's Republic of China; and (3) "PRC Sanctions Task Force" (or "Task Force") as the task force established under section 4.

This section establishes an interagency PRC Sanctions Task Force, to be formed not later than 180 days after enactment by the Department of State's Coordinator for Sanctions and the Department of the Treasury's Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence and other federal agencies as appropriate, to identify military and non-military entities potentially subject to U.S. sanctions or economic actions if the People's Republic of China (PRC) seeks physical or political control of Taiwan. Not later than 180 days after the task force's establishment, it must brief appropriate congressional committees on a strategy for such targets that (1) assesses existing sanctions programs; (2) proposes new sanctions authorities as needed; (3) analyzes economic consequences to the United States and its allies and partners; (4) assesses mitigation measures such as licenses and exemptions; (5) includes coordination with allies and partners to leverage sanctions, resolve impediments, target PRC sectors, and provide economic support to Taiwan; (6) assesses resource needs at relevant agencies; (7) recommends targeting PRC individuals, entities, and sectors based on their roles in threats to U.S. interests, economic impacts on the PRC, and global financial stability; and (8) identifies likely PRC entities in sectors including shipping, logistics, energy, maritime, aviation, ground transportation, and technology.

This section requires the PRC Sanctions Task Force to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than 180 days after the briefing required under section 4(b) and annually thereafter, a classified report that includes (1) any entities identified pursuant to section 4(b)(8); (2) any new authorities required to impose sanctions with respect to such entities; (3) potential economic impacts on the PRC, the United States, and U.S. allies and partners resulting from the imposition of such sanctions; (4) mitigation measures to limit deleterious economic impacts on the United States and U.S. allies and partners; (5) the status of coordination with U.S. allies and partners regarding sanctions and other economic tools identified under this Act; (6) resource gaps and recommendations to enable the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury to more effectively use sanctions to respond to malign activities of the Government of the PRC; and (7) any additional resources necessary to carry out the strategies and recommendations in the report submitted pursuant to section 4(b).