Capchem Technology USA, the wholly-owned subsidiary of China-based Shenzhen Capchem Technology (Capchem), plans to build factories in both Ohio and Louisiana that would produce components for electric vehicle batteries. Chinese government documents reveal the Chinese chemical giant was selected over a decade ago to conduct aerospace research for China’s military industrial complex as part of a program overseen by a blacklisted Chinese government agency.

Corporate reports show the company, as recently as 2023, received payments from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology — a government agency spearheading the Chinese government’s so-called “Military-Civil Fusion” efforts.

“This network of [Chinese Communist Party] military-linked companies proliferating across the United States is a great example of why blind economic engagement with China is a national security threat,” Bryan Burack, senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, told the DCNF.

The DCNF’s investigation is based, in part, on information provided by the Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action.

Capchem specializes in manufacturing chemicals for electric vehicle batteries, and for years, the firm has advertised its products’ military uses in annual reports and online. Indeed, until very recently, the firm’s website boldly stated its products were used in “high-end military equipment.”

Yet, Capchem denied supplying the Chinese military, and the reference to “high-end military equipment” was scrubbed from the firm’s website within 24 hours of the DCNF reaching out for comment.

Capchem “does not have products used by Chinese military, or any other military organizations,” a spokesperson told the DCNF.

“When the English/U.S. website was developed, the ‘military’ reference was inadvertently included,” the spokesperson said. “You brought it to the company’s attention, and it was removed just as it had been in the Chinese version in 2020.”

However, the military reference also appeared on Capchem’s Chinese-language website when the DCNF reached out for comment. The reference on Capchem’s Chinese-language site appears to have been removed around the same time as their English-language was being scrubbed.

Capchem business filings and corporate announcements from 2023, along with Chinese financial service research reports from as recent as January 2024, also note the firm’s products had military applications.

Capchem’s work with China’s military industrial complex extends back to at least 2012. That year, the Guangdong province Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced Capchem was one of 70 companies selected to serve as a “Guangdong Provincial National Defense Science And Technology Industry Military-Civil Fusion Superior Work Unit.”

The work unit focused on “critical components within the aerospace field,” including “space flight-grade, high-reliability and core electronic components, high-end general chips, base software, etcetera,” the 2012 Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announcement reads.

The project was overseen by China’s Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, which is “under direct supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,” and responsible for “nuclear weapons, aerospace technology, aviation, armament, watercraft and electronic industries,” according to China’s State Council.

China’s “Military-Civil Fusion strategy supports the modernization goals of the People’s Liberation Army by ensuring it can acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities,” according to the U.S. Defense Department.

Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi recently sent a letter to the Treasury and Defense departments noting the U.S. government’s blacklist of Chinese military companies extends to companies working with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

“Among other qualifying considerations, a company is a ‘military civil fusion contributor’ if such company is ‘affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, including research partnerships and projects,’” the lawmakers wrote in January 2024. “The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was formed in 2008 and is key to the PRC’s military-civil fusion strategy.”

Capchem’s annual reports show the firm has received millions of dollars in payments from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology since 2017. The ministry paid the firm approximately $1.5 million for an “Industrial Foundation Project” in 2017, according to Capchem’s annual report for that year.

Capchem’s most recent annual report shows the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had a subsidy of just under $1 million earmarked for the firm at the end of the 2023 mid-term reporting period.

Despite this, Capchem initially denied getting any “money/subsidies/donations from the Chinese government” in an email to the DCNF, though a spokesperson did say the firm had received “economic development tax incentives.”

However, the spokesperson changed their tune when the DCNF pointed to the firm’s own annual reports.

“The last time the company received any Chinese government subsidies besides standard incentives or awards provided for all eligible companies was between 2016 and 2018,” the spokesperson said. “Any reference to subsidies in company reports apply to those received during that time. The company has received no such subsidies since 2018.”

Capchem’s corporate reports list $26 million in subsidies from various Chinese government entities. The company’s 2023 mid-term report lists roughly $10 million worth of new government subsidies in a section labeled “Programs Involving Government Subsidies.”

Heritage’s Burack said Capchem has been “subsidized by the Chinese government” and “manufactures for China’s military.”

“There’s no question who these companies really work for,” Burack said. “There’s no such thing as a private Chinese company.”

‘Aerospace And Military Industries’

Capchem has long advertised the dual military-civilian use for its products. For instance, Capchem’s 2009 annual report touted how the company’s products are used in “aerospace and military industries.”

The vice president of Capchem’s research institute, Liu Zhongbo, discussed the military application of the company’s sodium-ion batteries at a July 2023 battery forum in Jiangsu province.

“Lithium-ion batteries and sodium-ion batteries are representative of new battery types serving as an important foundation for supporting the wide application of new energy sources in the domains of electricity, transportation, communication, military, etcetera,” Liu said during the event, according to Capchem’s website.

“In the future, Capchem will closely follow the national strategy to support the mass production of sodium-ion batteries,” Liu said.

More recently, a January 2024 research report from Chinese financial service firm Huaan Securities identified Capchem’s “fluorinated polyimide” product as being used in the nuclear industry and by the military, and the firm’s “perfluoropolyether oil” product’s use in aerospace landing gear, rudders and aircraft control mechanisms.

‘Security Risks’

Capchem’s plans to expand their U.S. footprint come as federal and state officials move to prohibit the ownership of U.S. land by Chinese entities. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson recently issued an executive order in January 2024 banning entities tied to China from purchasing agricultural land within 10 miles of any “critical military facilities” in the state.

Capchem USA is planning on building an approximately $120 million factory in Lawrence County, Ohio, Capchem announced in June 2023. County commissioners recently approved a 50% tax abatement for Capchem USA’s facility, the Herald Dispatch reported. The facility will serve as a “production facility for the manufacturing of battery chemicals,” according to Capchem.

Capchem USA is also considering a $350 million plant in Louisiana, according to Louisiana Economic Development, a government agency.

Ohio Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup’s congressional district includes Lawrence County. Barbara Boland, Wenstrup’s press secretary, told the DCNF that the congressman has “warned of the potential security risks to our supply chains, intellectual property and national security posed by Chinese-owned companies operating in the U.S.”

“Congressman Wenstrup recommends local governments and those pursuing economic development opportunities to fully vet any companies seeking to establish a footprint in their communities,” Boland said.

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The Missouri-based United States Heartland China Association (USHCA), a 501(c)3 bipartisan organization, characterizes its mission as “building bridges and promoting opportunities” between U.S. officials and businesses in Midwestern states and China. USHCA runs a number of U.S.-China programs, including agricultural roundtables, business seminars, student forums and political junkets to China.

Records show that USHCA-hosted events and trips are often conducted in partnership with organizations affiliated with the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD).

The UFWD is a “Chinese intelligence service” responsible for coordinating “influence operations,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which Congress created to study national security threats from China.

USHCA’s board of directors and strategic advisory team includes several individuals who also work for UFWD-affiliated groups, according to a DCNF review of those groups’ membership records.

Republican lawmakers have specifically flagged USHCA’s dealings with UFWD entities in the past.

In November 2021, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio singled out USHCA as a UFWD “conduit,” and, more recently, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks sent a letter to a local officials in his home state warning that USHCA has “collaborated with CCP United Front Work Department cut-outs and other Chinese state-sponsored organizations.”

A USHCA spokesperson told the DCNF that it stood behind its years-long work with Chinese entities.

“As an organization that promotes people-to-people exchanges in culture, education and business between the Heartland and China, USHCA will inevitably work with Chinese entities,” the spokesperson told the DCNF by email. “We seek out Chinese partners to support the execution of public programs that meet our objectives.”

USHCA’s mission is to promote “a stable and productive U.S.-China relationship to protect and advance the interests of the American Heartland,” the spokesperson wrote, adding the nonprofit pursues its mission by “organizing people-to-people exchanges in culture, education and business.”

The spokesperson also told the DCNF that the non-profit is “funded by American sources including membership dues, Heartland community supporters, private donations, grants from private foundations, corporate sponsors and contributions from state governmental agencies.”

Speaking generally, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, told the DCNF that the CCP has used the United Front Work Department to “manipulate the American people and interfere in all levels of our government, including state and local governments.”

‘United Front Work’

USHCA was founded in 2003 by former Missouri Governor Bob Holden, a Democrat, who is still the group’s president and board chairman. USHCA’s reach has grown to cover 21 states across the Midwest, Great Plains and South. The group’s political influence is evident from the composition of its board and strategic advisory team, which includes former governors, mayors and other prominent government officials.

For instance, USHCA lists former governors Matt Blunt of Missouri, a Republican, Ronnie Musgrove of Mississippi, a Democrat, and Brad Henry of Oklahoma, a Democrat, as strategic advisors. Export-Import Bank President Reta Jo Lewis and Mitch Landrieu, President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign co-chair, both previously served as USHCA strategic advisors.

“The USHCA leadership has vast experience in both business and education that uniquely position the organization to forge deep and productive relationships between the people of the U.S. and China,” the nonprofit’s website states.

USHCA’s leadership also includes at least four individuals who appear to hold positions at various entities affiliated to one degree or another with the United Front.

USHCA board member Liu Yawei is the senior advisor on China at the China Focus program at the Carter Center, and he is also listed as an “expert” on the “academic advisory committee” of the Center For China And Globalization (CCG). CCG’s website includes a photograph of Liu and identifies him as the “director” of the China program at former President Jimmy Carter’s think tank.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission describes CCG as a “United Front-affiliated Beijing think tank.”

CCG’s website also lists USHCA strategic advisor “Sam” Zhao Suisheng as an “expert” on its “academic advisory committee.” CCG’s website includes a photograph of Zhao and identifies him as director of the University of Denver’s Center for China-U.S. Cooperation, which is where he works.

On multiple occasions — including in 2009, 2011 and 2018 — Zhao was a “representative” to events in China jointly held by CCG and the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), according to records from both organizations. High-level CCP and UFWD officials attended these events, which concerned “talent” acquisition and other subjects, according to records from both groups.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2018 report identifies WRSA as a “United Front organization,” and its members founded CCG, the commission’s report notes.

Liu and Zhao were both listed as participants in a 2011 CCG and WRSA panel discussion in Beijing titled, “The Role of Returnees In China’s Public Diplomacy,” according to Chinese news website Sina.

In an interview, Zhao confirmed his CCG advisory position and his status as a representative to past CCG and WRSA events. Zhao also said he’d previously held several advisory roles with Chinese government agencies, including as an “overseas expert” for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

Zhao gave conflicting answers regarding his CCP affiliation. First, he told the DCNF he applied to join the CCP before coming to the U.S. in 1985, but was not admitted. However, Zhao followed up with an email stating that he’d had to “refresh” his memory.

“I never applied [to the CCP] because I knew I would not be admitted due to my liberal-leaning thought and involvement in the pro-democracy movement,” Zhao wrote in the email.

“As a devoted and independent scholar with a focus on the study of Chinese politics (including the United Front tactics), foreign policy, and U.S.-China relations, I value all and every opportunity, particularly the opportunities on the ground, to research the subjects and promote the mutual understanding between the U.S. and China,” Zhao wrote.

“As a proud Chinese American living about 30 years in China and about 40 years in the U.S., I want to help promote people-to-people exchanges to benefit people in the two great nations and reduce misunderstanding and misperceptions,” Zhao wrote in the email. “That is why I agreed to be an advisor to the Heartland U.S.-China Association.”

“Swallow” Yan Xiaozhe, the chairperson for USHCA’s “Chinese Community Leaders” committee, was appointed as an “overseas committee member” for the All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) in 2010, according to a release from the group. The release features a picture of Yan accepting a certificate from Consul General Huang Ping of the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.

ACFROC is a United Front organization “for returned overseas Chinese and their relatives,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

USHCA’s own website also identifies strategic advisor Alan Wong as a “special advisor” to the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), which is a Hong Kong-based nonprofit that’s registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

CUSEF “operates within a broader strategy of united front work, whose purpose ‘is to control, mobilize and otherwise make use of individuals outside the Party to achieve [CCP] objectives,’” according to the House Select Committee on the CCP.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has described CUSEF as a “united front-linked” organization engaged in “efforts to cultivate domestic constituencies that further Beijing’s economic agenda.” The commission’s 2023 report specifically flagged USHCA’s partnership with CUSEF as “often providing a platform for the promotion of official Chinese views on agricultural trade and exchange.”

During his confirmation hearings, CIA Director William Burns agreed that CUSEF was part of Beijing’s effort to “influence political, economic and cultural developments to benefit CCP interests.” Burns was appointed by President Biden and sworn in as CIA Director in March 2021, making him the first career diplomat to hold the position.

USHCA’s spokesperson did not respond to the DCNF’s questions about its advisors’ and board members’ work with UFWD-affiliated entities.

CUSEF, CCG, Liu, Wong and Yan did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

‘Reflects The Theory Of The Chinese Communist Party’

USHCA has promoted what it calls “people-to-people” diplomacy in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy and several UFWD-affiliated organizations.

The National Committee On U.S.-China Relations, a U.S. nonprofit, defines “people-to-people diplomacy” as “non-governmental exchanges between citizens of two countries that contribute to stronger relations between the two countries,” and cites the 1971 ping-pong games played between the U.S. and China as an example.

The U.S. State Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence have sounded the alarm on UFWD influence operations targeting “subnational” leaders at the state and local level using “people-to-people” exchanges.

“People-to-people exchanges are being exploited by the United Front because while these exchanges present as a way to strengthen bonds, the tactics used to target high-value assets is in reality a grooming strategy, that from China’s perspective, is a way to gain favor and access to ‘confidential and privileged’ information at some point in the future,” Ina Mitchell, a Chinese intelligence expert, told the DCNF. Mitchell is the co-author of “The Mosaic Effect: How The Chinese Communist Party Started A Hybrid War In America’s Backyard.”

CUSEF has sponsored more than half a dozen of USHCA’s programs, the DCNF found, including USCHA’s “Way Forward” webinar series, which promotes “subnational and people-to-people exchange between the American Heartland region and China,” according to USHCA’s 2020 annual report.

USHCA has also promoted “people-to-people” diplomacy with the Chinese People’s Association For Friendship With Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). USHCA characterized CPAFFC as a “partner” in 2021.

CPAFFC is a “key organization in China’s united front network,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The National Counterintelligence and Security Center has also warned that the CCP has tasked CPAFFC with “overseeing and developing ‘sister’ relationships between China and localities in the United States” and “may exploit these pacts to press its agendas.”

USHCA’s spokesperson told the DCNF that the nonprofit “decided to work with CPAFFC and other Chinese partners because they were able to identify and recommend Chinese experts and participants.”

In 2021, 2022 and 2023, USHCA and CPAFFC co-sponsored a series of “U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtables,” which the U.S. nonprofit described as “the preeminent annual bilateral dialogue around agriculture with the most diverse participants.”

Chinese diplomats, elected officials from Midwestern states and U.S. agricultural executives were among those who participated in the roundtables, according to USHCA. Additionally, the roundtables have also featured Chinese People’s Institute Of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) representatives — an institute that describes itself as “devoted to people-to-people diplomacy.”

In 2019, while commemorating CPIFA’s 70th anniversary, CPAFFC’s then-chairwoman, Li Xiaolin, said that “people-to-people diplomacy, as a theory and a practice, reflects the theory of the Chinese Communist Party on mass line and united front.”

CPAFFC did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

‘On Behalf Of The Chinese Communist Party’

USHCA sent delegations of U.S. mayors to China in 2019 and 2023 with logistical support from various UFWD-affiliated organizations like CPAFFC, according to the nonprofit’s records.

In November 2019, USHCA led a delegation of four Midwest mayors to China. USHCA identified CPAFFC as one of several “key players in the planning and delivery of this trip.”

Four years later, USHCA announced that its vice-chair — former Carmel, Indiana Mayor Jim Brainard — led a bipartisan delegation of U.S. mayors to “visit their counterparts” in China in November 2023. The focus of the trip was to “underscore the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and China,” according to USHCA.

CPAFFC took credit for inviting the mayoral delegation, China Youth Daily reported. China Youth Daily is the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League.

The delegation also included Mayor Barbara Buffaloe of Columbia, Missouri; Mayor Lee Harris of Shelby County, Tennessee; Mayor Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, Mississippi; Mayor Kim Norton of Rochester, Minnesota; and Mayor Robyn Tannehill of Oxford, Mississippi.

USHCA’s announcement thanked “the Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Energy Foundation China for their support that made this delegation possible.”

The delegation attended a Sister Cities Conference in Suzhou and mayors’ roundtable in Wuhan. The roundtable was followed by “an in-depth discussion on opportunities for collaboration” and “the signing of sister-city agreement between the city of Carmel, Indiana and Xiangyang, Hubei, the newest pair of sister cities between the United States and China,” USHCA announced.

Mayor Norton told the DCNF she accepted USHCA’s invitation to travel to China to “build sub-national relationships and to participate in an opportunity that included meeting with our long-standing sister city.”

Rochester’s website lists its sister city as Xianyang in Shaanxi province. Norton’s trip took place nine months after CPAFFC and Xianyang officials visited Rochester, according to the city.

Norton said she was “very aware of the current international tensions and national security concerns and took recommended measures for this trip — no phone, no computer, etc.”

“I took part in this trip comfortably given that we were briefed and supported by the U.S. State Department and were completely transparent about the goals of the trip focused on the environment and heartland related (agricultural) issues,” Norton told the DCNF.

USHCA’s spokesperson also told the DCNF that the nonprofit has been able to “protect” itself by “working closely with U.S. governmental agencies.”

The November junket drew scrutiny from Rep. Banks, who wrote to Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam and asked for her city to withdraw from its Chinese sister-city agreement, alleging that USHCA conducts “work on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party to influence U.S. business leaders and lawmakers.”

Finkam did not end Carmel’s sister-city agreement, but terminated its $25,000-a-year membership with USHCA on Feb. 8, 2024, the Carmel Current reported.

“[T]he Chinese Communist Party will have no influence over the City of Carmel,” Finkam said, according to the Carmel Current.

“Now that Congress has the facts, we need to figure out a federal response,” Banks told the DCNF. “I’m confident that Indiana leaders will lead the way in the fight against the Heartland Association and other groups tied to CCP United Front activities. We need to drive this CCP influence operation out of our state and then the entire country.”

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Records and reports reviewed by the DCNF identify four top executives and the chairman of the pork giant as CCP members with extensive ties to the Chinese government. WH Group controls nearly 150,000 acres of land across 29 U.S. states through its subsidiary Smithfield Foods, a family-run business established in 1936, which it purchased for $7.1 billion in 2013. While a keyword search on Smithfield’s website returned only two articles mentioning the firm’s relationship with WH Group, neither of the two articles mentioned China. An online map of Smithfield’s global business activities does not list any operations in, or connection to, Asia, despite archived reports from their website suggesting otherwise.

Revelations about WH Group’s CCP and Chinese government ties, which the DCNF found by cross-referencing the firm’s roster with Chinese-language news reports and corporate records, come as Republicans push for bans on Chinese rural land purchases, in particular, those close to U.S. military bases.

“It is no joke to join the Chinese Communist Party,” Matt Shoemaker, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, told the DCNF. “You cannot just walk in and sign-up. You have to show that you are a true believer.”

Several states, including Florida, have taken legislative and executive action to ban Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland. Recently, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson issued an executive order banning such purchases near military installations. GOP lawmakers also recently pressed the Biden administration to launch an investigation into the second-largest foreign owner of U.S. land after his CCP membership came to light.

“No foreign government should be owning American farmland,” said Shoemaker, who is running for Congress in North Carolina as a Republican. “It is a national security issue, for obvious reasons.”

WH Group’s chairman, Wan Long, as well as multiple board members and some senior management were identified as CCP members in a 2022 Chinese-language stock exchange filing from a subsidiary called Shuanghui Investment and Development Co. (SIDC). WH Group and Chinese corporate records from SIDC also show that WH Group’s chairman and several top executives hold, or previously held, Chinese government positions.

Between 2010 and 2021, the amount of U.S. land owned by Chinese entities skyrocketed from 13,730 acres to 383,935 acres, according to USDA reports.

Smithfield operates half a dozen distribution centers, nearly 20 direct store delivery services, 36 feed mills, as well as more than 40 production plants and 2,400 farms across 29 U.S. states, according to the firm’s website. In total, WH Group owns 146,000 acres in the U.S., according to a 2018 report by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“Smithfield Foods, Inc. holds a substantial market share in the U.S. pork industry, accounting for approximately 26% of the total market share,” according to trade publication Essential Protein Trade & Shipping News.

In a bygone era, GOP governors might have welcomed Chinese investment into rural industries and communities. Now, it’s become a major source of concern as relations between the U.S. and China continue to sour.

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem told the DCNF her office has had “a lot of hard conversations” with Smithfield’s leadership, adding she now believes the company poses a national security threat.

“Any time it felt like we would have the opportunity to work together, it ended up not going as well as I hoped,” Noem said. “I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Smithfield is owned by China.”

Smithfield did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

‘The CCP’s Long-Term Strategy’

WH Group Chairman Wan Long is among the company’s senior leadership who is a CCP member with Chinese government ties, a DCNF review of corporate business filings and Chinese state media reports found.

An archived business profile on SIDC’s website identifies Wan Long as a CCP member.

SIDC is “the largest animal protein company in Asia” and its products include “chilled fresh pork and packaged meat products,” according to Smithfield’s website.

The DCNF reviewed and carefully translated key sections of SIDC’s Chinese-language website, which contains extensive information about WH Group executives’ CCP and Chinese government ties that are absent from WH Group’s English-language website.

Born in 1940, Wan Long joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the age of 20 before entering China’s meat industry, according to Chinese state-run media outlet People’s Daily. Wan Long has since earned various Chinese government positions and state awards, his archived SIDC profile states.

Between 1998 and 2018, Wan Long served as a representative to the National People’s Congress, according to his archived SIDC profile. The National People’s Congress operates “under the leadership” of the CCP, and its officials are “invariably influential members of the CCP and leaders of major mass organizations,” according to the Congressional Executive Commission on China.

SIDC’s archived website also notes that Wan Long has received a “special allowance” from China’s State Council. This refers to a reward system created to “strengthen and improve the work of the Party’s intellectuals,” according to the state-run China News Service. The tax-free reward ranges from a monthly stipend of roughly $85 to an approximately $2,800 lump sum payment, according to China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. However, it is unclear if Wan Long still receives this government reward.

Wan Long also earned the honorific “senior political engineer” from the Chinese government, according to his archived SIDC profile. Senior political engineers are required to possess a “relatively systemic grasp of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory,” according to the State Council’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) also named Wan Long as one of 100 “Outstanding Private Entrepreneurs In The 40 Years Of Reform And Opening-Up” in 2018, according to the All-China Federation Of Industry And Commerce, a UFWD subordinate agency that co-sponsored the award.

The UFWD engages in “influence activities and intelligence operations,” according to the House Select Committee on the CCP.

SIDC’s 2022 filing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange also identifies three WH Group senior managers — Qiao Haili, Wang Yufen, Liu Songtao — and WH Group executive director Ma Xiangjie as CCP members. All four WH Group executives hold high-level positions at SIDC.

Ma Xiangjie was also elected to serve as a National People’s Congress delegate in Henan province, according to that government body’s website. Delegates are elected by “the People’s congresses at the provincial level as well as by the People’s Liberation Army,” according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

A local branch of the All-China Federation Of Industry And Commerce named Ma Xiangjie as one of Henan province’s people of the year between 2019 and 2020, according to the UFWD-affiliate’s website.

Yet, it is unclear just how many CCP members WH Group employs.

SIDC, on the other hand, has employed hundreds, according to the Communist Party Member Network’s website, which is operated by the CCP’s Organization Department.

“In recent years, over 300 new Party members have been recruited, strengthening the Party’s troops,” reads SIDC’s Communist Party Member Network profile. “Currently, Shuanghui Development’s senior executives include 17 Party members, constituting 85% [of all senior executives]; six business department general managers are Party members; six Party members are among the seven management department directors; all project managers are Party members; and 47% of the firm’s mid-level cadre are Party members.”

‘Update CFIUS’

When WH Group purchased Smithfield in 2013, the acquisition “received clearance” from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

CFIUS reviews foreign investments into the U.S. on the grounds of national security, the Treasury Department website states. Multiple U.S. government agencies participate in the CFIUS process, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and others, according to the Treasury Department, which is also involved in that process.

“We are pleased that this transaction has been cleared by CFIUS, and we thank the Committee for its careful attention to this review,” Smithfield’s CEO and president at the time, C. Larry Pope, said at the time, according to an SEC filing.

Over a decade later, House Republicans see CFIUS’ approval of WH Group’s purchase of Smithfield as a case study in why the body needs to be reformed.

“What we need to do is update CFIUS to ensure that it has jurisdiction over all foreign adversary land purchases, and to ensure that it has the ability to consider U.S. food security as a factor in assessing the potential risk of a transaction,” Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who chairs the House Select Committee on the CCP, told the DCNF.

Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson said the CCP has “nefariously exploited loopholes to buy U.S. land, so they can exert control over our food supply and undermine our national security.”

“This is all part of the CCP’s long-term strategy to hurt America and our interests — whether it’s garnering valuable U.S. military intelligence or interfering with our food supply chain,” Hinson told the DCNF. “We cannot allow another acre of U.S. land to get into the hands of the CCP.”

WH Group, SIDC, Wan Long and CFIUS did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].