Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and China expert Claire Christensen, writing jointly in the English-language Epoch Times on Friday (May 14), said that more than $400 million in U.S. government loans intended to help save U.S. businesses during the plague were instead awarded to companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), helping the CCP achieve its global hegemonic ambitions. The U.S. government must act immediately to recover this money.
A translation of Gingrich and Christensen’s article follows.
Although the Chinese Communist Party caused the global outbreak of the COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) pandemic through its Wuhan laboratory, communist totalitarianism turned this global crisis into an opportunity to reap huge profits.
In the early stages of the pandemic, Communist China, the world’s leading manufacturer of medical supplies, stockpiled large quantities of vital medical products and then sold them to the pandemic-affected countries. Communist China’s “vaccine diplomacy” continued to promote its “Health Silk Road,” exporting hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines abroad while denouncing the “vaccine nationalism” of the West.
In addition, Chinese and Indian troops clashed over a disputed border in the Himalayan region as countries dealt with a plague pandemic. The Communist Party has also increased tensions in the South China Sea, over which it illegally claims sovereignty, further strengthened its totalitarian control over Hong Kong, and militarily provoked Taiwan.
The use of global crises to pursue its global strategy is not new to the CCP’s authoritarian regime. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the CCP used the global economic downturn to advance its global strategy.
Similarly, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government quickly issued emergency loans to help struggling businesses as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The Communist dictatorship saw and seized this opportunity to make money in the United States.
According to the Horizon Advisory report by Emily de LaBruyère and Nathan Picarsic, as much as $419 million in PPP funds were disbursed to companies owned or invested in by Chinese Communist entities. To be clear: Due to the nature of the CCP’s totalitarian system, there is not a single fully independent company in China that is not under the supervision and control of the CCP.
From a set of recipients of PPP funds, Horizon Consulting identified more than 125 enterprises owned or invested in by the CCP dictatorship that received emergency loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department. At least 32 of these entities, all controlled by the Communist government, received guarantees of more than $1 million.
The report states, “These (CCP) entities include state-owned enterprises, companies associated with the CCP’s military and civil-military integration programs, companies identified by the U.S. government as posing a threat to national security, companies involved in the genocidal massacre against the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, and media outlets owned by or at the direction of the CCP.”
For example, the U.S. Department of Defense has released a list of companies that have been identified as having ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s military. At least eight entities associated with companies on this DoD list have received PPP loans.
In addition, the report states, “The CCP-linked entities that have received funding cover key strategic industries, including aerospace and defense, pharmaceutical and medical technology, traditional and emerging automotive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and component manufacturing (e.g., semiconductors, robotics), telecommunications, financial technology, entertainment, and media.”
Many of these industries are critical to the CCP’s advancement of its “Made in China 2025” industrial plan. The plan aims to make China the world’s leading high-tech manufacturer, focusing on 10 key areas, including: next-generation information technology, maritime equipment and high-tech ships, high-end computers and robotics, aerospace, new energy and energy-efficient vehicles, energy equipment, and biopharmaceuticals and high-tech medical devices.
Sadly, the loans intended to help save American businesses ended up helping Communist China in its goal of replacing the United States as the most powerful nation. But it is fair to say that the hundreds of millions of dollars were not stolen, but given away due to a lack of proper protection.
First, the Small Business Administration should work with outside researchers and experts, such as Horizon Consulting and RWR Consulting Group, to put together companies known to have ties to the Communist Party and ensure that they repay these loans in full.
Second, the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department should take additional protective measures to ensure that future loans are not made to entities with ties to U.S. enemies.
American businesses should not be put in second place. It is the responsibility of the U.S. government to ensure the safety of Americans in times of crisis, not to allow our cunning opportunistic enemies to profit.
The U.S. government must act immediately to create a system that ensures that American taxpayers do not subsidize the dictatorships that want to defeat us.
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