(HorizonPost.com) — The House Select Committee on the CCP announced on Monday that it is investigating asset manager BlackRock and the index fund provider MSCI to determine if they are investing money of US citizens into Chinese-based companies that are blacklisted by the federal government due to national security concerns and human rights abuses, CNN reported.
In identical letters to the CEOs of BlackRock and MSCI, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party notified them of their investigation.
In the letters, signed by Chairman Mike Gallagher and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee said a review of the two companies revealed that Americans have been “unwittingly funding” Chinese companies with ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army and which “advance the CCP’s stated mission of technical supremacy” due to the decisions made by BlackRock and MSCI.
The lawmakers accused BlackRock and MSCI of “undermining American values” and “exacerbating an already significant national security threat” by sending American money to Chinese companies with ties to the PLA and China’s human rights abuses.
According to the letters, the Select Committee found that BlackRock has invested over $429 million in five separate funds into Chinese companies acting “directly against” US interests. The committee has identified on the MSCI indexes at least forty companies designated as red flags by the federal government.
In a statement to CNN, BlackRock said the firm is one of sixteen asset managers offering US index funds that invest in Chinese companies, and the majority of its clients’ Chinese investments “are through index funds.”
According to the statement, BlackRock “complies” with all federal laws in all of its investments in China and “around the world.”
MSCI similarly told CNN that it complies with US laws and said that it is reviewing the select committee’s request for further information.
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