An investigation carried out by the House of Representatives Select Committee on China has revealed that American banks may have been involved in helping Chinese interests tied to the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army raise billions of dollars. It is belaboring the obvious that having China raise money on this scale isn’t in the best interests of the United States.
The Committee broke the news first on X.
The post is a lengthy one, but here is a key point:
Just months after @DeptofWar designated Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (@catl_official), the world’s largest battery maker, as a “Chinese military company,” JPMorgan and Bank of America moved forward with underwriting its Hong Kong IPO, helping the company raise billions in new capital. According to our investigation, the banks proceeded even after CATL was linked to China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy and despite evidence connecting the company to entities tied to the PLA, China’s defense-industrial base, and forced labor in Xinjiang.
The investigation uncovered CATL partnerships and business relationships with blacklisted Chinese defense-linked entities, including @Huawei, NORINCO, CETC, @CSSC_global>, COMAC, @ChinaMobile_X, and @CN_Nuclear_Corp. The report also details CATL’s ownership stake in Wuhu Shipyard, a key builder of Chinese naval vessels and military equipment, as well as research partnerships tied to the PLA’s National University of Defense Technology and China’s nuclear weapons complex.
And:
In a separate transaction, Morgan Stanley sponsored the IPO of Zijin Gold even after its parent company and Xinjiang subsidiaries were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Internal documents showed the firm identified significant sanctions and national security risks and moved forward regardless.
In simple English, American financial institutions are implicated in a financial scheme that may well have raised money for the Chinese military – and for Chinese operations that use forced labor in their operations.
Hellbound and Down 