President Donald Trump took the first step toward keeping an estimated $4.5 billion in pension funds for U.S. government employees and the military out of the Chinese market.
In making a dramatic move Monday night, first predicted in Newsmax on May 1, White House National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow wrote Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia late Monday informing him the president opposes any investment by the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) in Chinese equities.
"This action would expose the retirement funds to significant and unnecessary economic risk, and it would channel federal employees' money to companies that present significant and national security and humanitarian concerns, because they operate in violation of U.S. sanction laws and assist the Chinese government's efforts to build its military and oppress religious minorities," O'Brien and Kudlow wrote Scalia.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Fox News on Monday, was the White House's response to a May 2017 decision by the five-member Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) to change the index it uses for its international funds.
This would have opened the door for investment in Chinese businesses of government pension money by the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), which is overseen by the FRTIB.
Many of the companies that would benefit from U.S. investments, as Newsmax previously pointed out, have already been subject to sanction by the U.S.
Among them are the AviChina Industry and Technology Ltd., which develops fighter planes, helicopters, and unmanned aircraft systems for the People's Liberation Army, and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Company Ltd. which is responsible for security surveillance equipment to tighten the Chinese grip over the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
In a letter also dated Monday and reported by Fox, Scalia wrote FRTIB Chairman Michael Kennedy saying "at the direction of President Trump," the Board is to "halt all steps associated with investing the [pension funds] and to reverse its decision to invest Plan assets on the basis of that international equities index."
Scalia concluded by saying he wants a decision by Wednesday.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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