VENTURE CAPITALISTS FUNDING CHINA
Five U.S. venture capital firms invested $3 billion into Chinese AI and semiconductor companies, according to the results of a Congressional investigation.
Hundreds of millions of dollars went to companies with ties to China’s military, surveillance apparatus, and ongoing human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.
The new report, published by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and shared with The Epoch Times, found that the venture capital firms directly aided the CCP’s “strategic priorities” and undermined those of the United States.
The five firms investigated were GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital China (now HongShan), and Walden International.
Those firms invested some $1.9 billion into Chinese AI firms and another $1 billion into semiconductor corporations, including those owned by the state.
Of that, $190 million went to companies now blacklisted by the U.S. government for directly supporting the CCP’s military wing, and another $140 million went to companies with known links to the military.
The Select Committee urged the Biden administration to implement wide-reaching restrictions on outbound investments to the Chinese tech sector in order to halt the increasing threat posed to U.S. national security by those same investments.
“This bell cannot be unrung,” the report said. “Simply put, robust [China] outbound investment restrictions in key strategic sectors are a national security and human rights imperative.”
—Andrew Thornebrooke
FOREIGN AID BILL ADVANCES
The Senate yesterday moved closer to advancing a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan over opposition from conservative Republicans who say the U.S.–Mexico border should be secured before funds are given to overseas partners.
In a 67–27 vote, the $95.3 billion package cleared a procedural hurdle setting up a final floor vote in the upper chamber. 18 Republicans voted to move the measure forward.
The bill would provide more than $61 billion in assistance to Ukraine, $14 billion to Israel in its war against Hamas, and $4.83 billion for Indo-Pacific partners, including Taiwan, to counter Chinese communist aggression.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted how rare it was for the chamber to have to work on Super Bowl Sunday, but argued that the matter is of critical importance.
“As we speak, [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] invasion of Ukraine has rendered parts of Eastern Europe a war zone the likes of which we have not seen in those regions since the Second World War,” Schumer said.
“Ukraine is dangerously low on supplies, including ammo and air defenses. If America doesn’t assist Ukraine, Putin is all too likely to succeed.”
The bill’s advancement came days after Senate Republicans blocked another broader foreign aid package that included border security policies, which Republicans had sharply criticized for not doing enough to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
Former President Donald Trump, who came out forcefully against the previous package, on Saturday called for future foreign aid to be structured as loans.
“It can be loaned on extraordinarily good terms, like no interest and an unlimited life, but a loan nevertheless,” the former president and GOP frontrunner posted on Truth Social.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has vowed to delay the final vote on the package, which is expected around mid-week.
“We shouldn’t be sending anything overseas until we secure [our own] border,” Paul said yesterday.
—Cathy He
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- President Joe Biden hosts Jordan’s King Abdullah II for talks on the situation in Gaza.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was sent to hospital again yesterday, for “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” the department said. Unlike his earlier hospitalization in the new year, the White House was informed.
Three hundred miles from the U.S. border, residents of a remote Arizona town were ready to take up arms against Gov. Katie Hobbs’s now-aborted plans to house illegal immigrants inside a local football stadium. The Epoch Times’s Allan Stein reports.
Trump met with GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson in Las Vegas last week, part of his effort to court billionaire backers as he eyes the general election, Politico reports. Adelson and her late husband casino magnate Sheldon Adelson were Trump’s biggest donors in his 2020 reelection campaign. Adelson, however, has so far stayed out of the fray in the GOP primaries.
