CHINA/LOBBYING/TRADE DEALS: “When a Beijing-backed fund tried to buy an American chip firm, Rep. Robert Pittenger (R., N.C.) fired off a letter urging the government to block it.
After lobbyists for a Chinese e-commerce giant came to the congressman’s office to get support for their affiliate’s attempt to buy a U.S. money transfer firm, he wrote an op-ed blasting the deal instead.
And when a Chinese group struck a tiny deal to buy the Chicago Stock Exchange, Mr. Pittenger mounted a broad effort to block it…
The 69-year-old lawmaker’s focus is timely. Chinese investment in the U.S. tripled to a record $46 billion in 2016, according to New York consultancy Rhodium Group. The figure is still small compared with investment from places such as the U.K., Canada and Japan, but the sharp increase has raised concerns in Washington because China is an economic and military rival. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which is made up of Trump cabinet officials, reviews deals for national-security risks and has held up a number of China-backed deals, cheered on by Mr. Pittenger.
Some of China’s targets are in Mr. Pittenger’s North Carolina district, but he became interested in the country long before it began its international shopping spree. He says he took note of China in the 1970s while he was traveling in Asia with Cru—then called the Campus Crusade for Christ. In the ensuing decades, he said, he watched in dismay as China’s rapid increase in trade with the West transformed it from a minor player into an economic and military powerhouse, all while Beijing continued to reject values such as human rights and religious freedom.”
-Kate O’Keeffe, “North Carolina Lawmaker Takes On Chinese Investments in U.S.,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 29, 2017 09:30am