OPINION:
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith this week gaveled in a hearing on countering China’s trade and investment agenda. It was a welcome spotlight on how China uses its economic power as a weapon against the United States.
Among other things, the hearing focused on the White House’s prior announcement that it had no intention of enforcing any penalties associated with China’s attempt to circumvent tariffs that were imposed on its solar manufacturers. The good news is that the Republicans, along with more than a few Democrats, are going to vote on a resolution of disapproval of the administration’s inaction on the circumvention tariff.
The distressing part of that story — apart from the administration’s indifference to both the rule of law and the commercial interests of the United States — is the recent letter from the International Union of Operating Engineers essentially announcing that getting solar panels from the genocidal, slaving, internationally destructive regime in Beijing is more important than their own integrity.
The operating engineers are not alone. Ford Motor Co. announced recently that it would spend $3.5 billion to build a factory for electric vehicle batteries in Michigan. Michigan taxpayers will also contribute $1 billion to that effort.
In Ford’s own words, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, is “the world’s largest battery producer; their limited involvement will be as a contractual service provider and licensor of technology to Ford.” So Ford will construct batteries using technology controlled and licensed to them by a Chinese company that is an instrument of the communist regime.
If that sounds like the sort of thing that leads to being compromised and manipulated by a foreign power, it is probably because it is exactly that sort of thing. If it sounds like the sort of thing that leads to American taxpayers’ cash getting shipped to China, it is exactly that sort of thing as well.
The story gets worse. CATL is connected to the Chinese Communist Party’s “united front” propaganda and influence effort, which exists to get Chinese nationals, foreign governments and other actors to support the regime in China. Zeng Yuqun, the current chief and founder of CATL, was identified last year as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The conference coordinates Chinese interest groups and is led by the Politburo Standing Committee.
Unfortunately, Ford Motor Co. is not alone.
Congress has yet to ban TikTok, the most successful psychological operation ever launched against the United States. It is not complicated. India has managed to do it. Montana has managed to do it. Yet there are people arguing that the government — the same one that locked you in your house and made you wear a mask for two years, the same one that can ban stoves, cars and guns, and the same one that already bans things ranging from toys to drugs to cameras in a courtroom — can’t figure out a way to ban a software application.
Why not?
Jeff Yass is influential in Republican circles and dispenses his cash pretty freely for commendable issues such as school choice. He was also an early investor in TikTok. It is probably no coincidence that some on the right have decelerated the talk of banning TikTok. It is also unlikely that Mr. Yass — who by all accounts is a genuine believer in free minds and free markets in the United States — is alone among the billionaire class with respect to investing in China.
That’s the real problem. Whether you are Ford Motor Co., the union of operating engineers, or someone like Mr. Yass, the reality is that the cash from China is alluring and ultimately corrupting. To win our contest with China, we are going to need to appreciate that, understand its extent and devise ways to prevent it.
Mr. Smith is headed down the right road.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, co-hosts “The Unregulated Podcast.” He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.
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