The chairman of the key foreign policy committee in the House has issued a subpoena for documents from the State Department regarding its policies toward China.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the subpoena was delivered to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, and it gave the secretary until July 17 to provide the committee with the relevant documents.

KEVIN MCCARTHY SCORES $21.7 MILLION SECOND QUARTER FUNDRAISING HAUL

The subpoena follows a May 24 letter from McCaul to Blinken in which he requested information regarding a Reuters article that detailed how the State Department was holding back human rights-related sanctions and export controls that they could have put in place following the spy balloon incident in February to preserve the Beijing-Washington relationship.

“Given the State Department’s continued refusal to comply with my committee’s urgent request for crucial information related to China, I am left with no choice but to issue a subpoena,” the chairman said. “It is vital the committee obtain these documents to shed light on the department’s reported failure to enforce U.S. national security laws against CCP companies and human rights abusers. The department must comply as legally obligated, further obstruction and delay will not be tolerated.”

The Chinese spy balloon traversed the continental United States in early February, floating over sensitive military sites. The department postponed Blinken's trip to Beijing, which was only days away at that point, though they held off on more stringent responses.

Rick Waters, deputy assistant secretary of State for China and Taiwan who leads the China House policy division, told staff in a Feb. 6 email to "push non-balloon actions to the right so we can focus on symmetric and calibrated response. We can revisit other actions in a few weeks."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Congress is in unison regarding the threats posed by China in a variety of fields ranging from Taiwan, military aggression in the Pacific, economic ties, and human rights violations.

McCaul has previously sought documents from the State Department regarding the military's withdrawal from Afghanistan with limited success, though not without threatening the use of the committee's subpoena power.