Two U.S. senators are blowing the whistle and demanding answers after revealing a communist Chinese aircraft company is on the Biden administration‘s list of companies permitted to engage in sensitive military research, development and weapons production with the United States.
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter to Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez, demanding to know why the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), which had been blacklisted as a national security threat by the Trump administration, is now permitted to engage in U.S. military research and production.
The senators demand COMAC be placed on the Military End Users (MEU) list of companies prohibited from receiving assistance from the United States.
“Spun out of China‘s military, COMAC was initially formed by AVIC as a separate SOE in 2008. Today, AVIC still holds a minority stake (12.35 percent) in the company. Despite this minority ownership, AVIC maintains considerable influence over COMAC, which actively employs AVIC leadership, employees, technology, and facilities,” the senators write.
“COMAC is also a subsidiary of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Multiple defense SOEs operate under SASAC, including AVIC, Aero Engine Corporation of China, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and China National Nuclear Corporation among others. COMAC also works closely with Western aerospace companies, including firms that produce jet engines and many other components used in commercial and military aircraft. Given the CCP’s commitment to acquire dual-use aerospace technologies through trade as well as forced joint venture and partnerships, these firms, and U.S. national security by extension, are at risk,” the senators add.
The senators warn that Beijing’s “military civil fusion” strategy requires all Chinese companies to use their resources to fuel the regime’s military machine, meaning COMAC’s approval poses a potential national security threat.
“Military Civil Fusion (MCF) enables the CCP to acquire industry expertise through both licit and illicit means. It enables ‘civilian’ entities to engage in sensitive military research, development and weapons production,” Rubio and Scott write.
“This means that Western companies engaging in joint research and trade may be exploited to create or support systems that benefit the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). COMAC’s status as a fully-owned state enterprise, as well as its close relationships with the CCP and other aerospace companies, create a vulnerability that undermines both the national and economic security of the United States,” they write.
It appears COMAC’s approval is a change from Trump administration policy, and the company should have raised red flags with the Biden administration.
“COMAC’s key parent entities are already included on Commerce’s MEU list, and the Trump Administration had included COMAC itself under its “Communist Chinese Military Companies” investment blacklist. Aviation experts have noted that COMAC’s ties to the military are “common knowledge,” which makes the department’s reluctance to proceed with an MEU list addition all the more perplexing,” the senators write.
“Given these realities, and the CCP’s continued application of state-owned enterprises to systematically access dual-use aerospace technologies, we ask the Bureau of Industry and Security to add COMAC to the Military End User List,” Rubio and Scott conclude.