NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
February 5, 2021

CONTACT:
Hamilton Strategies, [email protected],
Marjorie Pratt, 610.584.1096, ext. 104,
or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102

Committee Urges New York Stock Exchange Not to Help Underwrite Communist Chinese Military Companies

Calls Attentionto Study Showing C.C.P. Telecoms’ Dangerous Ties to P.L.A. Threat

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Committee on the Present Danger: China today redoubled long-running efforts to prevent the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) from funding its growing military threat to this country with the investment resources of scores of millions of mostly unwitting American investors. Committee Chairman Brian Travis Kennedy wrote the President and Board of the New York Stock Exchange about the findings of a new analysis by an independent research firm, RWR Advisory Group, documenting the material help provided to the CCP’s armed forces by three giant PRC telecommunications conglomerates: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. The NYSE may be considering relisting these companies and the CPDC strongly believes it should not do so.

Mr. Kennedy’s letter to Exchange President Stacey Cunningham – copies of which were sent to President Biden and his relevant senior subordinates – notes the tortured recent history of the three CCP telecoms on the NYSE:

On November 11, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13959, which set in train a prohibition within a year on the holding of these Chinese securities on the so-called Pentagon PLA List by any U.S. persons and entities of companies worldwide.

Among the most important of such PLA-affiliated companies are three large telecommunications firms: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. As a result of these companies being placed on the Pentagon’s CCMC list and the issuance of Executive Order 13959, your exchange commendably decided to delist them last month.

Unfortunately, contradictory guidance from the Treasury Department prompted the NYSE to reverse course and relist these telecoms, only to delist them once again when provided further clarification by the federal government about the intent and impact of that order as amended by President Trump on January 13, 2021.

As you know, the day after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom petitioned your exchange and the new administration to be relisted. As you evaluate this request, we wanted to ensure you were aware of an important new report entitled, “Military Ties of Major Chinese State-Owned Telecom Companies: China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom,” issued by an independent research firm, RWR Advisory Group. It distills open source information about the nature of these firms’ troubling ties to, and support for, the Chinese Communist Party’s armed forces.

Mr. Kennedy went on to provide highlights of the RWR Advisory Group analysis including:

All three companies have documented participation in China’s national strategic initiatives (military-civil fusion) and strategic infrastructure projects (South China Sea network construction), as well as the enabling of censorship (suspension of services in selected areas), and alleged involvement in malicious cyber activities (such as the redirecting of internet traffic).

Specific examples of such incompatible with the national security interests of the United States include:military and cyber espionage activities, South China Sea construction operations and activities in U.S.-sanctioned countries [notably, North Korea].

Chairman Kennedy concluded with an urgent appeal to the leadership of America’s premier capital market:

On the basis of such information and pursuant to Executive Order 13959 as amended, the Committee on the Present Danger: China urges the New York Stock Exchange in the strongest possible terms to continue to prevent the listing of the three leading telecommunications companies in the Chinese military-industrial complex: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

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To interview representatives of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, contact [email protected], Marjorie Pratt, 610.584.1096, ext. 107, or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102.

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