Federal government set to invest in Chinese firms called ‘enemies’

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Outrage is growing over a plan to invest federal civilian and military pension funds into several Chinese military and communications firms dubbed “enemies” by a who’s who list of retired top brass.

At a time when China is under fire over the coronavirus, taking American jobs and aiding U.S. military foes including Iran, the federal government is moving to shift pension funds to one that invests in several of the communist nation’s firms, some sanctioned by Washington.

In a letter signed by several retired flag officers, President Trump and the current Pentagon brass are being urged to stop the move by the Thrift Savings Plan.

“It is especially intolerable to those of us who have proudly served the nation in uniform that our retirement investments will help its enemies threaten our comrades-in-arms and the country we love,” read the two-page letter sent by the Committee on the Present Danger: China.

“We call on you as the senior military advisors to our Commander-in-Chief to urge President Trump to prevent the Thrift Savings Plan from being tapped by companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party and, thereby, ensure that federal retirees will not wind up financing our foes,” the letter added.

Among the retired military officers who signed it are former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones, former Reagan national security adviser and Vice Adm. John Poindexter, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and Lt. Gen. William Boykin, and Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, former commander of the Air Force Air Education and Training Command.

Their letter said that the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has voted to mirror a fund that invests in the Chinese firms, known as the MSCI All-Country World ex-U.S. Index. It said that “over 11% of its portfolio” was invested in the stocks of Communist Chinese enterprises.

To help in the fight against the investment, the committee has also posted a petition.

A statement accompanying the letter listed nine military and communications firms in the fund that the United States has had issues with. Here is how it described each:

  • AviChina Industry & Technology Ltd.: AVIC and its subsidiaries develop and produce a range of aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems and airborne weapons for the People’s Liberation Army. AVIC and its subsidiaries have been repeatedly sanctioned by the U.S. for missile proliferation activities in Iran.
  • China Shipbuilding Industry Group: Naval equipment produced by CSIC includes: guided-missile destroyers, frigates, conventional submarines, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, unmanned aerial vehicle systems, and, most notably, aircraft carriers.
  • Hikvision Digital Technology: Hikvision manufactures video cameras and other security technology integral to the CCP’s surveillance state apparatus and its “social credit” system. It has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights and other activities “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
  • Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corp.: ZTE is a telecommunications company that has engaged in economic and trade activities in sanctioned states in violation of U.S. laws and regulations.
  • China Communications Construction Company: As of 2015, CCCC owned more than half of China’s dredging industry capacity. Several CCCC subsidiaries have been observed conducting dredging (and other) activity in support of Beijing’s illegal island-building activity in the South China Sea.
  • China Unicom: China Unicom is providing telecommunications systems to the contested Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea to service China’s civilian and military personnel and also reportedly to support signals intelligence activities.
  • China Mobile Ltd.: China Mobile provides telecommunications services to illegal fortified Chinese-constructed islands in the Paracel and Spratly Island chains. In May 2019, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission denied China Mobile’s application to provide international telecommunications services between the U.S. and foreign destinations, saying it “raises substantial national security and law enforcement risks.”
  • China Telecom Corp.: In April 2020, the U.S. government pulled a license from this Chinese telecommunications company’s American subsidiary on the grounds that it entailed unacceptable risks of Chinese espionage and disruption of U.S. networks.

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