Posted on 10/25/2021 7:12:14 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
In recent weeks, numerous national security concerns have been raised regarding Chinese corporations and their increasing ownership of American businesses and trading ports. This alarm comes in the wake of China’s largest shipping company, Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., taking control of a major US trade terminal in Long Beach, California. The Long Beach acquisition is part of Cosco’s six-billion-dollar buyout of rival Asian shipping giant, the Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas International Ltd.
Whereas Cosco’s ownership of the California port is a smart move for the Chinese economy, American trade insiders have expressed skepticism over the acquisition’s benefits for the United States, worried it may jeopardize national security.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) – a federal panel tasked with reviewing foreign purchases of American businesses by foreign entities – recently investigated Cosco’s seizure of Orient Overseas, expressing strong national security concerns and uncertainty about the Chinese corporation’s intentions.
This review followed President Trump’s refusal to allow Singaporean-owned tech company Broadcom to purchase the California-based telecommunications giant Qualcomm – the president’s decision largely informed by CFIUS concerns that the American company would be undermined, easily allowing China to gain an advantage over the United States in microchip technology.
Many Americans have expressed opposition to the Cosco purchase and have encouraged CFIUS to block China’s takeover of the major California port. Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, discussed the topic in May, saying in a statement:
“Under no circumstances should CFIUS permit China to take over management or effective control over the port of Long Beach, a critical channel for foreign commerce, but one that must remain under US control. Long Beach serves as the gateway to and from Asia. In order to ensure that our national and economic security needs are met, neither the Chinese government nor its state-run companies should be controlling such critical infrastructure.”
He added, “CFIUS needs to just say no to the deal.”
The Cosco acquisition also comes during a time of increased tension between China and the United States, with both country’s leaders threatening to levy new tariffs and sanctions, and public officials raising concerns of an all-out trade war between the two nations.
California’s trading ports have long been a point of contention for international relations.
In the mid-1990s during Bill Clinton’s campaign for his second presidential term, the Clinton administration worked towards ensuring a Chinese shipping company with communist ties received a good deal on another Long Beach shipping terminal.
The bad China deals didn’t stop with Clinton, either. Under the Obama administration, US-China relations shifted, with Obama positioning the United States as a partner to China, rather than a competitor. As the US became less competitive with China in the name of “international cooperation”, the Obama administration gradually began to allow more and more Chinese conglomerates to buy out American properties and businesses. The Democrat-backed policies that gave China trade advantages are, in part, responsible for the development of the current state of affairs in which China has a disproportionately large influence on American commerce.
President Trump has taken steps to put America first again, threatening to slap a 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of China’s tech exports, however the Cosco purchase is still set to be finalized this month.
Within the past several years, China has rapidly advanced its strategy to weaken the American dollar, destabilize our economy, and replace the United States as the dominant economic world power. The increasing Chinese ownership of American industry is actively weakening our country while diminishing our national security and self-reliance.
President Trump has taken a strong stance on China, addressing the trade deficit and the country’s theft of American intellectual property. If Americans wish to curb Chinese influence on American commerce and our economic strength, we must follow President Trump’s lead.
We know the country aims to subvert our world power and economic dominance. We must not let them.
EXPERTS WARN OF CHINA’S INFLUENCE AT U.S. PORTS
Oct 22, 2019
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/experts-warn-of-chinas-influence-at-us-ports
WTF
WTF!
National security issue.
The military should take it over and fire all the current workers.
“Foreign investments in such important things to national security and the U.S. economy as ports is a serious thing. However, it is outside the consciousness of most citizens and not something talked about much in the press.”
HISTORIC REFERENCES:
Trump Rids Major U.S. Container Port of Chinese Communist Control
October 08, 2019
U.S. Forces China Out of Port of Long Beach Terminal Ownership
By Jared Vineyard
Posted October 15, 2019
“Foreign investments in such important things to national security and the U.S. economy as ports is a serious thing. However, it is outside the consciousness of most citizens and not something talked about much in the press.
What suddenly seems to have garnered some attention to this story is a Judicial Watch article on the topic. A few people emailed me the article, asking for a blog on the topic.
I am glad the article was sent to me even though Judicial Watch is a bit too politically slanted for my taste (however, what isn’t at this point?), with one section reading:
It all started with a 40-year container terminal lease between the Port of Long Beach in southern California and Hong Kong. The Obama administration proudly signed the agreement in 2012 giving China control of America’s second-largest container port behind the nearby Port of Los Angeles. One of the Trump administration’s first big moves was to get the Communists out of the Port of Long Beach.”
https://www.universalcargo.com/u-s-forces-china-out-of-port-of-long-beach-terminal-ownership/
NPR: “In the past decade, Chinese companies have acquired stakes in 13 ports in Europe, including in Greece, Spain and, most recently, Belgium, according to a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Those ports handle about 10 percent of Europe’s shipping container capacity.
China’s increased control in ports also increases the country’s influence over other nations. It also gives them strategic advantages should conflict arise.
It should also be noted that on top of gaining operational control in ports around the world, 6 of the world’s 10 busiest ports last year were in China itself, according to South China Morning Post. I doubt China is relinquishing control of those ports to other countries.
There’s a certain global dominance China is striving for in international shipping and global business. The U.S. should be wary of giving China that dominance at the ports.”
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/09/642587456/chinese-firms-now-hold-stakes-in-over-a-dozen-european-ports
Don’t confuse us all with facts and real information !
INFO:
China has seven of the world’s 10 busiest container ports, spurred by booming trade and a state coffer that invests in public works
Six of the world’s busiest container ports last year were in China, stretching from Qingdao in the north to Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the south
China’s government has spent 1 trillion yuan since 2012 to expand the country’s port facilities
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Published: 8:00am, 13 Apr, 2019
....... Since Trump did this ..... Did the new Biden Communist Adminstration Undo it .... Because ... Well ... You know .... Red Hair Man Bad?????
China Extends Reach in the Caribbean, Unsettling the U.S.
NYT 11-08-2020
The region has strategic importance as a hub for logistics, banking and commerce. It is also very close to the United States.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/08/world/americas/china-caribbean.html
MCGA
THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE:
“Security experts warn of China’s influence at US ports”
‘CHINA can use its financial control at foreign ports to create markets through which it can strengthen its trade relationships, according to US-China Economic and Security Review Commission chair Carolyn Bartholomew’
https://www.seanews.com.tr/security-experts-warn-of-chinas-influence-at-us-ports/184582/
P.S.
THIS QUOTE:
CHINA can use its financial control at foreign ports to create markets through which it can strengthen its trade relationships, according to US-China Economic and Security Review Commission chair Carolyn Bartholomew.
‘By owning and/or operating a network of logistical nodes across Asia, Europe and Africa, China can control a significant portion of its inbound supply chain for essential commodities and outbound trade routes for its exports,’ Ms Bartholomew said at a congressional hearing in Washington on China’s Maritime Silk Road initiative, reported American Shipper.
‘In the event of conflict, China could use its control over these and other ports to hinder trade access to other countries.’
Ms Bartholomew pointed to data that show two-thirds of the world’s top 50 container ports are owned by the Chinese or supported by Chinese investments, up from 20 per cent a decade ago. Those investments include terminals at US container ports in Los Angeles and Seattle.
Officials at the Chinese state-owned Cosco acknowledged in 2018 that the company had connected its shipping routes along its Maritime Silk Road with emerging regional markets in West Africa, Northern Europe, the Caribbean and the US ‘to form a more comprehensive and balanced globalised network layout.’
US ports’ reliance on Chinese manufacturers for container gantry cranes is part of the investment concern, according to Alan Lowenthal, Democrat-California. Mr Lowenthal highlighted during the hearing that owing to this reliance, US ports have urged the Trump administration to exempt gantry cranes from Chinese tariffs.
US-China Economic and Security Review Commission chair Carolyn Bartholomew:
“I think having us dependent on any one source is a problem, especially when that source is a country that doesn’t necessarily see us as a friend,’ Ms Bartholomew warned.
‘We have certainly seen them use economic leverage in the tariff wars that are taking place.’
She added that China could use that leverage to achieve diplomatic and political gains and potentially ‘shut down our ports’.
“In the event of conflict, China could use its control over these and other ports to hinder trade access to other countries.”
How is this ownership even allowed to happen? Our country is so screwed up.
I WILL MAKE A BOLD STATEMENT:
JOE BIDEN IS OLD. BUT, I BELIEVE IS DOES NOT HAVE ALZHEIMER.
HIS BEHAVIOR IS PRACTICED DECEPTION TO COVER FOR HIS TIES TO SOROS, CHINA ETC.
My mother was an Alzheimer victim. I believe Biden is using his behavior as a pitiful distraction from his real pointed agenda: One World Government that could not be accomplished without him.
It is pure insanity for China to have any influence in our ports. Does anyone think China would permit the US to do the same in China? Whoever approved this crap should be behind bars.
And So It Begins.
What was the final result from 2018 I’d love to know!
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