Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is calling upon federal lawmakers to put far stricter limits on Chinese investment in the U.S., criticizing the communist country for "using our own laws against us" to defend asset purchases here that he believes are national security threats.
Bailey made the comments on the Cumulus Podcast Network's Shawn Ryan Show.
““I am concerned, clearly, about Chinese infiltration into our culture and into big tech social media companies like TikTok. It seems like China is using our own laws against us, not just with TikTok, but buying farmland, putting power plants next to military bases. The list goes on," Bailey said. "They're gathering data and spying on us without our consent, and that's dangerous."
Bailey says Chinese leaders have ironically cited First Amendment to justify their investments in the U.S., when they don't allow free speech themselves in their country.
He says allowing this is a sign of weakness.
"We have a leader back in the White House that understands that you can't show weakness on the playground. If you show weakness, the bullies will just keep bullying you," he said. "The people's elected representatives can make a foreign policy decision, a national security decision.”
Bailey is suing China over its role in the COVID-19 pandemic on behalf of the State of Missouri. He says he will get a $25 billion judgment against the country, and that he will "identify assets that the Chinese Communist Government owns in Missouri and elsewhere" that will satisfy it.
“We will work with the Marshals Service to seize those assets. They will be sold and that money will be returned to the people of the state of Missouri," he said.
Chinese Communist Party spying through its owned corporations operating in the U.S. has long been a concern of federal officials. But none have taken actions to counter them that were as aggressive as Bailey's.
Current U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, when representing Florida in the U.S. Senate, produced a report criticizing local governments for buying technology equipment from Legend Holdings-owned computer maker Lenovo.
"When you embed into a state and local system, it allows you the opportunity to do things like steal intellectual property — research funded by taxpayers that’s then turned to the advantage of their companies, which don’t have to spend the money on the basic research,” Rubio said.
Rubio said he hoped the report would "bring more awareness" of the the threat from Lenovo, which has had contracts with the U.S. Army and Air Force, the Agriculture Department, the Social Security Administration, the Transportation Department and the IRS as well as states of Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Arkansas.
China's National Intelligence Law, passed in 2015, compels all citizens and organisations to act as covert arms of state security on demand, even if overseas.
"There is no saying no. There is no even admitting it’s happened. Chinese owned technology companies can deny this as much as they like, in fact they have to, but the law is clear," wrote UK-based columnist Rupert Goodwins.
A 2023 report by the U.S.-based Center for Naval Analyses says that Chinese-owned companies "face a host of requirements related to cybersecurity and data management and storage. Companies must report to and cooperate with PRC authorities, and they must assist with state-directed intelligence and counterintelligence effort."