By Michael Martina
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill on Tuesday to increase penalties for foreign government agents who threaten people on U.S. soil, a move aimed at countering the rise of what officials call "transnational repression" by countries such as China and Iran.
The bill, put forward by Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and Republican Senator John Curtis, comes after China's ethnic unity law went into effect on July 1, establishing what Beijing says is its right to target certain critics beyond its borders.
That Chinese measure was a direct factor in the introduction of the "Stop Transnational Repression Act," Senate staffers told Reuters.
Should it become U.S. law, it would for the first time give a federal definition for such crimes and increase potential prison sentences for convicted individuals by up to an additional 10 years.
"This is a bipartisan effort to counter a national threat that reports show is only expanding in scope, with new and brazen efforts by countries like China trying to expand its intimidation of those not in lock step with the regime," Schiff said.
Curtis called transnational repression "an attack on both our sovereignty and our freedoms."
Some Chinese communities in the U.S. who oppose China's ruling Communist Party, as well as pro-democracy activists and supporters of Taiwan, Tibetan and Uyghur causes, have complained that Beijing sends agents and others to harass, spy on and intimidate them.
Liu Chang, spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, said the concept of transnational repression was "completely fabricated."
"The Chinese government strictly abides by international law and fully respects the law enforcement sovereignty of other countries," Liu said.
The bill defines transnational repression, in part, as any effort by a foreign state's agent or proxy "to harass, coerce, or threaten a person, including by force or reasonable fear of death." Codifying the term under U.S. law will serve as a "heightened deterrent for foreign actors," it says.
Human rights non-profit Freedom House says that China is behind most documented cases of such repression globally, with 319 stemming from the country since 2014.
A New York man was found guilty in May of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after federal prosecutors alleged that he operated a "secret police station" on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan.
Separately, two men were sentenced this year to 10 years and 15 years in prison for what the Justice Department said was a plot directed by Iran's government to stalk and kill an Iranian-American human rights activist.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Don Durfee, Sanjeev Miglani and Mark Porter)
