US Govt. Must Answer Questions About Chinese Access To Critical Technology - Senator

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) The Trump administration must answer questions about how a state-owned Chinese company was able to use offshore firms to attempt buying restricted US technology, Senator Bob Menendez wrote to two Cabinet secretaries, according to a press release from his office.

"Menendez... today asked Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to explain how a Chinese state-owned firm was able to use offshore companies to potentially acquire restricted American technology," the release said on Tuesday.

On December 4, the Wall Street Journal reported that China Orient used subsidiaries and offshore third parties to evade US export control laws and acquire a majority stake in an American company seeking to purchase a US-made satellite.

"Failure to review this and other similarly-situated transactions, in which Chinese stated-owned entities may gain footholds in sensitive technologies, poses a significant threat to US national security," Menendez wrote in the letter.

China Orient reportedly used subsidiaries in Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands to lend money to another British Virgin Islands company, Bronzelink Holdings, which in turn acquired a 75 percent stake in the US startup Global IP that ordered the development of a new satellite, according to the newspaper.