Soldiers march in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2019.
U.S. President Joe Biden has been busy issuing executive orders since taking office, focusing on reversing the policies of former President Donald Trump (Trump). Now, Biden has reversed Trump’s order to prevent Americans from funding the Chinese Communist Party‘s military, leaving the door wide open for Wall Street to fund the CCP.
In response to Biden’s reversal of Trump’s investment license, Gordon Chang, a China expert and senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a U.S. think tank, and Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI), a Czech think tank, said that they have been working with the Chinese government on a number of issues. Gordon Chang, a China expert and senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, and Roger Robinson, director of the Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI), the U.S. affiliate of the Czech think tank Prague, held a discussion.
On Jan. 26, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License No. 1A, a new executive order that allows U.S. persons to continue acquiring stock in certain companies associated with the Communist China Military Corporation (CCMC) until May 27. Previously, the Trump Administration set a deadline of Jan. 28.
The permission delays some of the provisions of President Trump’s landmark Executive Order 13959, issued on Nov. 12, 2020.
Executive Order 13959 prevents investors from buying or owning stock in any company designated as CCMC-related, subject to the wind-down provisions. In short, Trump ordered Americans to stop funding the CCP’s military, said Gordon Chang. There are currently 44 companies designated as off-limits for investment, including leading Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp.
Biden’s order fundamentally “undermines” Trump’s order to invest in dozens of Chinese Communist Party companies that should have been off-limits, Zhang said.
“The Biden Administration caved in. Wall Street, which fiercely opposed Trump’s executive order, now has had ample Time to work for its repeal.” Mr. Chapter said.
Robinson responded that changing Trump’s order would only enrich Wall Street and Beijing at the expense of U.S. Security, fundamental values and investor protection.
Gordon Chang agrees with Robinson and insists that the right thing to do is to prevent Americans from investing in any Chinese companies, whether or not they are now officially designated as Communist Party military companies.
As Richard Fisher, senior fellow for Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a U.S. think tank, put it, China’s civil-military integration means that the military has the right to prey on any non-military Chinese company for what it believes can enhance its military power.
Wall Street, with the help of the White House, is funding the Chinese Communist Party, while most Americans are unaware that their pensions and other savings are being used to fund the destruction of their own adversaries.
Every dollar that goes into a Chinese company, whether state-run or private, is enriching a regime that has declared a “people’s war” against the United States, Zhang emphasized. Therefore, every Chinese company should be off-limits to American investment.
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