OPINION:
This week, Wall Street CEOs will participate in the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong. While these financial industry “leaders” typically preach about social justice and responsible investing in America, they’re now flying halfway across the world to meet with Hong Kong chief executive John Lee—a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) puppet sanctioned by the U.S. government for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and the rule of law.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, much to the pleasure of its masters in Beijing, is marketing the summit as a “high-level event” to showcase “Hong Kong’s positioning as China’s gateway.” In other words, the event promises to reinforce the CCP’s goal of exploiting Hong Kong’s position as a global financial hub in order to raise capital from American and global investors.
Three years ago, the presence of American financial leaders at such an event wouldn’t raise eyebrows. But today’s Hong Kong is not the same region that once gained recognition as a finance hub thanks to a “one country, two systems” framework—a system that the CCP has eroded in recent years.
In 1992, Congress passed the Hong Kong Policy Act, which allowed the United States to treat Hong Kong separately from mainland China for trade and economic issues. The law was meant to promote Hong Kong’s prosperity—and ensure that China stayed true to its promises. When the British government handed over Hong Kong in 1997, Beijing promised that the territory would enjoy a high degree of autonomy for 50 years under a framework known as “one country, two systems.”
That changed in 2020 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) subverted the democratic rule of law in Hong Kong—and moved aggressively to bring the once-autonomous city under Beijing’s direct control. The CCP’s unilateral imposition of a national security law made major structural changes to Hong Kong’s government that significantly reduced the city’s autonomy.
Despite honorable work by U.S. lawmakers, human rights organizations, and America’s allies, it’s now clear that Hong Kong can no longer be treated as separate from mainland China. China’s continued assault on Hong Kong’s democratic institutions and human rights has diminished Hong Kong’s status as a free-market and economic hub for investment and international trade.
In 2021 and 2022, the State Department’s Hong Kong Policy Act Report confirmed that “Hong Kong does not warrant treatment under U.S. law in the same manner.” This was a result of China’s actions, which have “dramatically undermined rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.” Now, Congress should take action—and start by putting an end to Wall Street’s complicity in funding China’s campaign of evil.
For decades, Wall Street has been happy to line its pockets by helping China. Through passive investment products such as Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, Wall Street firms—including BlackRock and JPMorgan—funnel billions of American investor dollars to Chinese companies, including ones that have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for egregious human rights abuses and national security concerns.
Data released by the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) documents how mutual funds often have serious exposure to companies owned or controlled by the CCP. In the U.S. government’s 401(k) plan—known formally as the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)—there are 5,000 different mutual funds, including 22 that are China-only funds.
CPA’s research found that five of the largest international funds in the TSP had an average weight of 22 percent toward Chinese companies, and all five funds held companies listed on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s list of Chinese Military-Industrial Companies, the Department of Commerce Entity List, the Commerce Department’s Unverified list, or the Department of Defense Chinese Military Companies list. Companies are placed on these lists because they threaten U.S. national interests, have been involved in serious technology theft, or are implicated in the CCP’s genocide of the Uyghur people.
While Wall Street CEOs have been quick to condemn publicly controversies that might undermine democracy in the U.S., they readily turn a blind eye to China’s efforts to limit democracy and the rule of law in Hong Kong. For Wall Street, it seems that profit is king, even if it comes at the sacrifice of what is moral and right.
It’s time for the U.S. government to recognize that Hong Kong is now the CCP’s financial hub. And Beijing will use Hong Kong to further its goals of undermining America and its allies—with Wall Street helping, if it can turn a profit. Congress should address this now, before it’s too late.
- Zach Mottl is CEO of Atlas Tool Works and Chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America. You can follow him at @ZachMottl.
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