{"id":877962,"date":"2021-10-14T05:14:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T09:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=877962"},"modified":"2021-10-14T05:14:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T09:14:23","slug":"kerry-owns-stake-in-chinese-investment-group-that-funds-company-blacklisted-for-human-rights-abuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kerry-owns-stake-in-chinese-investment-group-that-funds-company-blacklisted-for-human-rights-abuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry Owns Stake in Chinese Investment Group That Funds Company Blacklisted for Human Rights Abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkerry-owns-stake-in-chinese-investment-group-that-funds-company-blacklisted-for-human-rights-abuses%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=877962&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"29.818181818182\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/\">Biden Administration<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Climate czar accused of downplaying Uyghur genocide during climate negotiations with China<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-538541266_736x514-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-538541266_736x514.jpg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-538541266_736x514-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-538541266_736x514-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tJohn Kerry (L) shakes hands with China&#8217;s President Xi Jinping (R) at the Great Hall of the People at the end of the eight round of U.S-China strategic and economic dialogues on June 7, 2016 in Beijing, China. \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/alana-goodman\/\" title=\"Posts by Alana Goodman\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Alana Goodman<\/a> \u2022 October 14, 2021 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"118.65828092243\">\n<p>Climate czar John Kerry and his wife have at least a $1 million stake in a Chinese investment group that is a major funder of China&#8217;s artificial intelligence sector\u2014including a tech company blacklisted by the United States for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs, according to financial records reviewed by the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Kerry holds &#8220;over $1,000,000&#8221; in investments in Hillhouse China Value Fund L.P., according to a financial disclosure report he filed at the beginning of the year. Hillhouse is a top shareholder in YITU Technology, which is involved in China&#8217;s high-tech surveillance operation against the Uyghur people and helped develop a facial surveillance software for the Chinese government that sorts individuals by race and ethnicity, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/14\/technology\/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according<\/a> to the <em>New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce added YITU to its trade restriction blacklist for being &#8220;implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China&#8217;s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As special presidential envoy for climate, Kerry has been heavily focused on diplomatic discussions with China, which is the top global greenhouse gas producer. Kerry has downplayed China&#8217;s persecution of the Uyghur people while attempting to negotiate climate change agreements with the Chinese government. &#8220;Life is always full of tough choices,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/john-kerry-justifies-climate-change-urgency-over-human-rights-abuses-in-china-life-full-of-tough-choices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> Kerry last month, when asked if it was necessary to trade human rights for climate concessions. Republican lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2021\/09\/28\/republicans_say_kerry_is_lobbying_against_slave_labor_bill_146478.html\">expressed<\/a> concern last month that Kerry was quietly lobbying against a Senate-approved bill that would ban Chinese imports linked to Uyghur slave labor after the legislation stalled in the House.<\/p>\n<p>Anders Corr, an intelligence analyst and the publisher of the <em>Journal of Political Risk<\/em>, called Kerry&#8217;s investment an &#8220;astonishing and disappointing revelation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Kerry leads on the China issue, not just climate talks, and he and his family should be forbidden from investing in a manner that creates even the appearance of a conflict of interest,&#8221; said Corr.<\/p>\n<p>Corr said China views the artificial intelligence industry as &#8220;one of a very few most important strategic sectors for its economic and military development,&#8221; and the expansion of this sector will &#8220;enable the achievement of its goal to become globally hegemonic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No American should invest in China&#8217;s AI capabilities, which only empower the country in its economic growth, and ultimately the military strength with which it will challenge the benign leadership of the United States,&#8221; Corr said.<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Kerry&#8217;s Hillhouse stake is through a trust in which his wife is the beneficiary. While Kerry&#8217;s wife is a beneficiary of the trust, he stated in the disclosure that they are not involved in managing the investments.<\/p>\n<p>Hillhouse is one of the top shareholders in YITU Technology, according to a copy of an initial public offering prospectus YITU filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange&#8217;s Science and Technology Innovation Board last November and obtained by the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. The investment group led a $55 million capital injection into YITU in 2017, according to news <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dealstreetasia.com\/stories\/ai-developer-yitu-technology-55m-series-c-hillhouse-capital-72704\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a> from the time.<\/p>\n<p>The Hillhouse China Value Fund is part of the Hillhouse Capital Group, an investment powerhouse run by Chinese businessman Zhang Lei.<\/p>\n<p>Zhang sits on Shanghai&#8217;s Artificial Intelligence Strategy Expert Advisory Board, a committee created by the Chinese government as part of its efforts to ramp up its artificial intelligence industry. As recently as 2019, he was listed as a member of the China-United States Exchange Foundation, an <a href=\"https:\/\/jamestown.org\/program\/the-china-u-s-exchange-foundation-and-united-front-lobbying-laundering-in-american-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">organization<\/a> tied to the Chinese government&#8217;s overseas influence operations. Zhang and Hillhouse group also bankrolled the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at the government-run Renmin University, according to the school&#8217;s website.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese government has set a goal of becoming the global leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, prompting concern from U.S. national security experts who say it is using the technology for militarization and exerting totalitarian-like control over dissidents and domestic minority groups.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biden Administration Climate czar accused of downplaying Uyghur genocide during climate negotiations with China  John Kerry (L) shakes hands with China&#8217;s President Xi Jinping (R) at &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-877962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}