Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is right: it is time for the United States (U.S.) to ban TikTok until intelligence and military leaders receive answers about potential security concerns the app presents to the country. But it is also time for the U.S. to do so much more than that.
In the wake of this month’s news that the social media platform’s censorship policies are tilting the scales against America and its allies and in favor of its enemies, Sen. Hawley is questioning why the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the government agency tasked with examining the national security implications of foreign purchases, has yet to conduct a full review of the Big Tech giant, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company the FBI and Federal Communications Commission fear could be sharing data with China’s authoritarian government.
Sen. Hawley is correct. It is long past due for America to get serious about scrutinizing foreign investments that could be affecting America’s national security. But even he knows investigating TikTok should just mark the beginning of this process.
Yes, China’s proximity to TikTok may be giving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to the American people’s personal information, but that pales in comparison to how Chinese interests are directly purchasing U.S. assets of top-level national security importance, all as the CFIUS remains asleep at the wheel.
From purchasing farmland that borders U.S. military bases to buying crucial American energy companies, Chinese interests appear intent on slowly jeopardizing the U.S.’ ability to maintain control of the resources and supply chains needed to preserve its military might. And yet, despite outcry from Sen. Hawley and other alert lawmakers, the CFIUS has done little to stop this problem from persisting.
As a longtime U.S.-China policy analyst, this concerns me. Military and intelligence leaders have briefed Congress and the White House to no end on how Chinese law mandates these companies share their data with the CCP whenever the authoritarian regime demands it. Yet, over the last two decades, the CFIUS has not seemed to care. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have seen significant growth and modernization over this time period.
Worse is that CFIUS’ failure to adequately police these foreign purchases of U.S. assets is starting to have geopolitical ramifications.
Robert O’Brien, the U.S.’ 27th U.S. National Security Adviser, wrote in Fox News this month Russian interests have begun mirroring China’s asset acquisition strategy.
The recently announced $1.91 billion purchase of Vista Outdoor, one of America’s largest American companies, by the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) — a Czech industrial technological company that has alleged ties to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle — underscores this point well. This company has already faced accusations of industrial espionage and, according to the chairman of NATO’s Integrated Capability Group on Indirect Fire, has stolen the designs of a Slovak artillery system used in Ukraine. As O’Brien noted, the CFIUS has not even shown the smallest of concern about CSG’s acquisition.
Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency also copied China’s playbook by acquiring a controlling stake in Uranium One, which gave Russia access to a significant portion of U.S. uranium production, which, of course, is vital for everything from nuclear weapons production to non-proliferation and arms control. CFIUS approved the transaction almost without batting an eye.
The lesson here is clear: the CFIUS’ two decades worth of disregarding China’s foreign acquisitions has not only emboldened the country to control more American assets — it has also incentivized other adversarial nations, like Russia, to follow suit.
Since the CFIUS has repeatedly demonstrated a refusal to reverse course on its own, it is incumbent upon Congress — the legislative branch that created (and retains oversight over) the agency — to demand it do better.
Fortunately, Republican North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry’s House Financial Services Committee is seeking to do just that. It recently held a CFIUS oversight and accountability hearing while stressing the need for the agency to become more sensitive to the national security ramifications of foreign acquisitions.
Given the vast lobbying machine Chinese-connected interests run in the U.S. capital, enacting new CFIUS accountability measures will take work. That said, with leaders like Sen. Hawley and Rep. McHenry continuing to bang their pots and pans while investigating the situation, the American people can rest easy if Congress is doing everything it can to reverse the status quo, ensuring the federal government puts people before politics. And for that, we should all be grateful.
Jianli Yang is the founder and president of Citizen Power Initiatives and author of For Us, The Living: A Journey to Shine the Light on Truth and It’s Time for a Values-Based “Economic NATO”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.