EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Claudia Tenney Calls On New York To Divest Retirement Fund From China

Republican New York Rep. Claudia Tenney is urging her state’s comptroller to stop investing public pension funds in Chinese-run companies.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) includes stocks and bonds from the Chinese private equity firm Boyu Capital, according to a March 2021 disclosure from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Boyu Capital’s investment funds are primarily focused on the tech sector, with investments in Jack Ma’s Ant Group and Alibaba Group. The firm was founded by Alvin Jiang, the grandson of former President Jiang Zemin.

In recent years, Boyu has moved operations to Singapore out of fear that Chinese President Xi Jinping will crack down on the firm. Xi has moved to reduce the influence of former Chinese Communist Party leaders like Jiang, and entrepreneurs like Ma. (RELATED: Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma Resurfaces After Disappearing For Months During CCP Investigation)

Investments in Boyu and other Chinese firms “are completely unacceptable and encourage the engagement in human rights abuses across the globe,” Tenney wrote to DiNapoli in a letter, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller.

“Many of your portfolio companies may be directly contributing to illegal or otherwise destabilizing activities, including but not limited to supporting atrocities against the Uyghur population, the build-up of the Chinese military, and unfair trade practices that have decimated our industrial base, including my Upstate district,” she added.

Read the letter here:

03.30.22_DiNapoli China Div… by Michael Ginsberg

DiNapoli recently announced that NYSCRF would end new investments in Russian companies, and would review all current holdings with the possibility of divestment. NYSCRF also divested from 21 U.S.-based energy companies that DiNapoli believes will be prepared for a transition to green energy. He has announced a goal of a net-zero fund by 2040.

“The retirements of those who faithfully served the public and earned their pensions should not be risked by irresponsible investments in Chinese companies, which openly ignore U.S. investor protections and act at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party. It is time to stop the flow of New York public pension funds to China, which is engaged in manifold human rights abuses, economic predation, intellectual property theft, and cyber-enabled tyranny. Comptroller DiNapoli must take immediate action to end New York’s public funding of these problematic entities and protect our communities from further devastation,” Tenney told the Daily Caller in a statement.

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