Chinese Military Entities Have Spent Millions Lobbying For US

Since 2020, entities that the Pentagon describes as “Chinese military companies” have spent over $24 million lobbying for the U.S. government, according to a review of lobbying disclosures by the Daily Caller.

The outlet reported that some of the largest lobbying spenders included corporations with ties to Chinese military research and the country’s inhumane treatment of its citizens, such as tech giant Huawei, genomics company BGI Shenzhen and facial recognition software developer Megvii.

The Daily Caller pointed out that such Chinese companies hold significant influence in the U.S. government, having lobbied the House, Senate and the executive branch, including the president’s office.

Federal law indicates that the Department of Defense’s list of Chinese military companies includes organizations “directly or indirectly owned, controlled or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military.

Other companies include ones that the department has said are “military-civil fusion contributor[s] to the Chinese defense industrial base.” This includes entities that have knowingly worked with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to develop military technology.

The tech giant Huawei, which was included on the Pentagon’s list of Chinese military companies in 2020, spent nearly $11 million lobbying since then, marking the highest amount by any other company flagged by the DOD.

“Huawei’s lobbying activity often centered on bills intended to limit its operations in the United States,” according to BizPacReview.

The corporation lobbied the Senate in 2022 shortly after the House passed the Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act. If passed by the Senate, the legislation would require the State Department to report on member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) using telecommunication services provided by Huawei.

Another bill that the telecom giant lobbied on, the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, also failed to become law since it was stalled in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The measure would have forced the U.S. to share intelligence with its allies in Europe and Canada concerning Huawei’s 5G capabilities.

Disclosures showed that Huawei hired multiple American lobbying firms to carry out its work. In 2021, the telecom company paid Podesta Group $1 million to lobby the White House on “issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues.”