Reuters-US lawmakers unveil bill requiring private equity firms to reveal China investment
November 9, 2023 2 min 349 words
这则报道揭示了美国两位参议员提出的一项具有双党支持的法案，要求私募股权公司公开其在中国等关注国家的投资额。这一行动是对美国在中国投资的持续关切的最新体现。该法案的提出旨在增加透明度，让美国民众了解他们的储蓄是如何投资的。美国一直试图限制对中国的投资，担心资金和技术可能助长北京在现代化军事方面的进展。私人投资公司在2018年至2022年间向中国投资超过800亿美元，其中一部分来自养老金计划。新法案将要求私募基金每年向美国证券交易委员会披露在中国、伊朗、俄罗斯和朝鲜的资产，该委员会将根据这些信息发布一份公开报告。此外，该法案还要求披露有关私人安全交易的特定信息。提出法案的参议员指出，缺乏透明度使得像共产主义中国这样的对手受益，呼吁停止向这些国家的资金流动。这一法案的推出是在一项关于对华出境投资的行政命令之后，该命令禁止一些美国对中国在半导体、微电子、量子计算和人工智能等领域的投资，并要求通报其他投资。整体而言，这一法案表明美国正在加强对涉外投资的监管，以保护国家利益和技术安全。
Two U.S. senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday that would require private equity firms to make public how much they invest in China and other countries of concern.
The bill, introduced by Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican Senator Rick Scott, is the latest effort to track U.S. investments in China.
"The American people deserve to know where and how their savings are being invested," Casey said in a statement.
Reuters exclusively reported on the bill earlier Thursday.
The United States has sought to crack down on U.S. investment in China over fears U.S. dollars and know-how are aiding Beijing's technological advances to modernize its military.
U.S. private investment firms have poured more than $80 billion into China between 2018 and 2022, some via pension plans, according to Casey's office.
The new congressional measure would require private equity funds to annually disclose assets invested in China, Iran, Russia and North Korea to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which would then be required to make public a report based on the information.
It would also require disclosure of certain information about private security sales.
"Our adversaries, like Communist China, benefit from a complete lack of transparency," Rick Scott said in a statement. "It is time to stop sending American dollars to these countries of concern."
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Casey has also co-sponsored a measure that would require government notification of investments in certain sensitive technology sectors in China. That measure has been added as an amendment to the Senate's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and may or may not survive reconciliation with the House's version.
The new bill also comes in the wake of an executive order on outbound investment to prohibit some U.S. investments in China in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and require notification of others. The order has not yet been implemented.