by Gordon G. Chang
February 25, 2021 at 5:00 am
Wall Street wants to finance the enemy, and the Biden administration is opening the door wide.... Beijing views the U.S. financial community as its channel to influence the highest levels of the American political system.
"It would be a tragic mistake for the new administration to postpone, dilute, or otherwise eviscerate implementation of the key provisions of Executive Order 13959. Doing so would only serve to enrich Wall Street and Beijing at the expense of American security, fundamental values, and investor protection." — Roger Robinson, chairman of the Prague Securities Studies Institute, interview with Gatestone.
The People's Republic of China is a unified state, so the investment ban should apply not only to companies the Trump administration designated but also to all state-owned enterprises. State enterprises are by no means separate businesses. The divisions among them are artificial, and all are tightly controlled by the Communist Party. Each one of these entities, therefore, is military-linked and Party-controlled.
China's Military-Civil Fusion means the People's Liberation Army "has the right to raid any non-military Chinese company for any technology it decides could advance its military strength." — Richard Fisher, of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, interview with Gatestone
The Biden administration is allowing Wall Street to use the cash of "scores of millions, up to 160 million Americans" to "fund ICBMs targeting their families, to fund concentration camps in Xinjiang." Most Americans will have no idea their retirement and other savings are being used to finance their own destruction.... financing China's war on America.
Wall Street wants to finance the enemy, and the Biden administration is opening the door wide.
How can this be?
On January 26, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 1A, which permits Americans to continue acquiring shares in certain companies associated with "Communist Chinese Military Companies," known as CCMCs, until May 27. The previous deadline, set by the Trump administration, was January 28.
The General License delayed a portion of the application of President Trump's landmark Executive Order 13959, issued November 12, 2020.
EO13959 stopped investors, subject to wind-down provisions, from purchasing or possessing shares in any company designated a CCMC. In short, Trump ordered Americans to stop financing China's military, the People's Liberation Army.
There are now 44 companies designated as off-limits to investment, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China's leading chipmaker, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.
The best minds in America did not know how to apply EO13959, which is why Trump amended it on January 13 by issuing another executive order. Moreover, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued at least 15 explanations in the form of Frequently Asked Questions.
Some argue that Biden's General License No. 1A is merely one more clarification. Yet in essence, it guts EO13959, allowing investment into dozens of companies that should be off-limits.
The Biden administration, therefore, caved. Wall Street had fiercely opposed Trump's executive order and now has additional time to work for its repeal.
"It would be a tragic mistake for the new administration to postpone, dilute, or otherwise eviscerate implementation of the key provisions of Executive Order 13959," Roger Robinson, chairman of the Prague Securities Studies Institute, told Gatestone. "Doing so would only serve to enrich Wall Street and Beijing at the expense of American security, fundamental values, and investor protection."
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