U.S. Venture Capital Firms Invested Billions in Companies Linked to Chinese Military and Human Rights Abuses

Chinese Military

Five American venture capital firms invested at least $3 billion in Chinese technology companies making products used in human rights abuses and aiding the Chinese military and government, according to an investigation from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Walden International supplied funds to support the development of semiconductors that are being put to use by China’s military for research on equipment and weapons, according to the House Committee. The report follows findings by the Daily Caller News Foundation in October that several U.S. venture-capital firms were participating investors in CCP-backed start-up contests that supported China’s Thousand Talents plan, which aims to poach technology and researchers abroad.

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Commentary: China Develops Hypersonic Missiles, While U.S. Intelligence Agencies Cultivate Political Correctness

I am sure it’s a totally unfounded rumor that the Central Intelligence Agency, the world’s most lavishly funded bastion of spooks, is about to shorten its name to “The Central Agency,” retiring the embarrassing and divisive word “intelligence.”

I don’t know how the rumor got started, but the news, reported on Oct. 16 by The Financial Times, that in August, the Chinese had successfully tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, lit a fire under the rumor mill.

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Biden Lifts Economic Ban on Chinese Military Tech Company

Sugon device

Joe Biden signed an executive order updating the United States’ list of blacklisted Chinese companies, dropping the ban on at least one company that was originally put on the list by President Donald Trump, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

Biden lifted the blacklist on the company Sugon, which was first banned by President Trump in November of 2020. The company is responsible for selling “supercomputers” to the Chinese military, for use in nuclear weapons research. Sugon also specializes in facial recognition software, cloud computing, and other surveillance technology that has been used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against the Uyghur Muslim population.

Although Biden’s updated list still maintains bans on such companies as Huawei and Hikvision, the removal of Sugon was noted as “strange” by Michael Sobolik, a fellow with the American Foreign Policy Council.

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Major Chinese Telecom Companies Kicked Off New York Stock Exchange Following Trump Executive Order

Three major Chinese telecom companies will be removed from the U.S. stock market after President Donald Trump banned investing in companies that aid China’s military.

On Jan. 11, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will be removed from the New York Stock Exchange, CNN reported. The telecom companies are all major state-owned firms that the U.S. suspects are tied to the Chinese military.

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President Trump Signs Executive Order to Block Investment in Businesses Benefiting China’s Military

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to block investment in Chinese businesses that the administration says benefit China’s military.

The order prohibits such investments beginning Jan. 11, 2021, but allows divestment from investments that include the Chinese securities through Nov. 11, 2021.

“Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to protect American investors from funding Communist Chinese military companies, including those designated by the Department of Defense in June and August of 2020,” National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said in a statement.

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