In recent days, U.S. investors have lost over $400 billion in funds invested, often without their knowledge, in non-transparent, unaccountable and ultimately unreliable companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

This financial carnage prompted seven U.S. Senators to write the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission raising serious concerns about such exposure and the fact that foreign shareholders have no claim against the PRC corporations in which they are supposedly invested. Instead, they typically hold paper issued by so-called “Variable Interest Entities” typically based in the Cayman Islands and have no recourse if the Chinese government opts capriciously to sanction or regulate such firms. 

If Americans can’t be persuaded to avoid investing in CCP-tied companies because they often pose threats to our national security and/or our human rights values, maybe the prospect of losing their shirts will do the trick.

This is Frank Gaffney.