Jake LaTurner Addresses 'The Greatest Threat To America's National Security'

5 months ago

At a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-IL) spoke about

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Transcript

00:00 I will recognize myself for five minutes.

00:03 Thank you to our witnesses for being here today as we address the greatest threat to

00:07 America's national security, the Chinese Communist Party.

00:09 The CCP will stop at nothing to infiltrate American supply chains and gain insight into

00:14 our most critical military operations and homeland security practices.

00:18 Over the past few years, we have witnessed President Xi increased aggression within America's

00:23 borders, buying up farmland, spying on us with high altitude surveillance balloons,

00:28 operating illegal Chinese police stations, and stealing valuable intellectual property.

00:33 The threat posed by the CCP extends far beyond the confines of any single industry or entity,

00:39 with an ultimate goal of entwining themselves into every aspect of our economy, society,

00:44 and governance.

00:45 A threat I am seeing firsthand in my district.

00:49 Our nation's greatest adversary is currently setting up shop in Johnson County, Kansas,

00:54 to the guise of C-Nano Technology USA, a Chinese-backed manufacturer firm with alarming ties to CCP

01:00 military and intelligence services.

01:03 This new manufacturing facility is just 34 miles away from Fort Leavenworth, 72 miles

01:07 from Whiteman Air Force Base, 105 miles from Fort Riley, and 165 miles from McConnell Air

01:12 Force Base.

01:14 Allowing C-Nano USA to operate near these significant military installations and become

01:18 embedded in our local supply chains opens the door to Chinese espionage and puts our

01:23 military intelligence, trade, research, and intellectual property at risk of falling into

01:29 the hands of the CCP leaders.

01:31 Make no mistake, C-Nano USA is a wolf in sheep's clothing and poses a clear threat to the United

01:37 States and to the state of Kansas.

01:39 In January of this year, I wrote to Secretary Yellen and Secretary Austin, urging them as

01:43 members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to open an immediate

01:46 investigation into C-Nano USA.

01:49 After the Biden administration refused to act, I urged the Kansas legislature to pass

01:53 common sense solutions to ensure we have tools at our disposal to protect Kansas from CCP

01:59 infiltration.

02:01 As President Xi and the CCP continue to target American communities, it's more important

02:06 than ever that we work to stop Chinese-backed businesses from exploiting our supply chains

02:11 and gaining access to our crucial military bases across the country.

02:15 I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today.

02:18 Mr. Mattis, C-Nano Technology USA is a subsidiary of C-Nano Jiangsu.

02:26 C-Nano Jiangsu has repeatedly received funding from the CCP for participation in state initiatives,

02:31 including in the CCP's 863 program.

02:34 Can you explain what the CCP's 863 program was and the purpose of it and other similar

02:40 programs?

02:41 So, the 863 program is named after the date that it was launched, which was March 1986.

02:48 And it is a state, essentially a state investment vehicle to channel funding for national defense

02:54 modernization and civilian technologies that would facilitate that.

02:59 And although they have changed the name, I think at least twice over the years and come

03:02 up with related programs, it still retains that focus on military modernization.

03:09 Let me stay with you.

03:10 C-Nano Jiangsu has also cooperated in the past with the CCP's United Front Work Department.

03:16 And the United Front is actively engaged in political warfare in the U.S.

03:19 Could you explain how the United Front might use a U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese entity

03:23 to conduct non-kinetic warfare tactics such as economic warfare?

03:29 So the United Front, there could very well be in the Chinese, sort of the Chinese parent

03:35 company, a party committee that has a United Front Work Department attached to it and works

03:40 for that company.

03:42 It would largely be involved in mobilizing the employees of that company and channeling

03:48 their efforts to support their party's apparatus.

03:51 The most likely way that it would be involved in any form of intellectual property theft

03:56 and economic espionage would be in providing tips and leads to the, essentially the Ministry

04:03 of State Security or the local state security department of Jiangsu province.

04:08 So here we have a company that's received money from the 863 program and is engaged

04:12 with the United Front in the past.

04:14 Should we believe that a U.S. subsidiary of a PRC company is completely divorced from

04:19 its PRC base umbrella?

04:24 It's possible, but I think when you look at the way in which U.S. media has reported on

04:30 the supposed division between ByteDance and TikTok, that TikTok has not operated as though

04:35 it were a separate company, but rather as a constituent part of ByteDance with ByteDance

04:39 employees exercising authorities there.

04:42 There are reasons to have those similar concerns with AVIC and its subsidiaries in the United

04:47 States, one of the Chinese, the PRC's major military aircraft manufacturers.

04:53 So I'm not sure of any, I'm not sure of any company that I know has been very closely

04:57 tied to the party state and its objectives that you can separate off, and I'm not sure

05:02 that many of the U.S. employees understand what that relationship is.

05:06 Thank you very much, and thank you to all the witnesses.

Jake LaTurner Addresses 'The Greatest Threat To America's National Security'

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