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August 4, 2023
Dear John,
Funding our Adversary’s Economy?
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and MSCI, a top stock-market-index compiler, have been investing American retirement dollars in Chinese companies that strengthen China’s military and pose security threats to America. Not just that, but more than 60 of these companies have been flagged by U.S. agencies for security or human-rights violations.
This means Americans have been funding our biggest adversary’s growth for years. The same communist government that steals Americans’ personal data from apps like TikTok, spies on our allies’ imports and exports, and sets up CCP police stations in America. Those are just the tip of the iceberg.
We’ve known it’s a possibility that asset management firms have been investing in CCP-backed companies for a while and Congress has been working to bring clarity and accountability to these firms. Recently, the Select Committee on China launched an investigation into several venture capital firms for their funding of Chinese tech companies. In the Senate, a bill is being worked on to require American companies that invest abroad, especially in countries like China, to disclose certain investments. The bill would also create a panel to review and block these investments that are national security concerns, similar to how the Council on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) works.
MSCI and BlackRock manage a total of over $22 trillion in assets. While these investments in Chinese companies can yield a high return, putting our national security at risk is not a wise trade. The means do not justify the ends.
The Select Committee on China expressed these concerns in a letter sent to BlackRock and MSCI earlier this week. We requested a full accounting of the investments in Chinese companies—the American people deserve to know where their dollars are going and the type of un-American behavior it’s advancing. I hope the Select Committee receives a response soon so we can hold these firms accountable. |
