The Federalist: Chinese Communists buy U.S. pork giant

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Chinese Communists buy U.S. pork giant

Communist Bacon

The top executive at Shuanghui is a high-ranking member

of the Chinese Communist Party.

Around the world so-called "private" Chinese businesses that are connected to and funded by the Communist Party are buying up massive amounts of farmland and natural resources for shipment back to China.

The next Chinese target is the American company Smithfield Foods which won national security clearance for its proposed $4.7 billion sale to a Chinese meat processor, overcoming one of the biggest obstacles to a takeover.

The approval by an important government committee came despite the deep-seated skepticism of a group of lawmakers, who professed concern over a Chinese company owning Smithfield, America’s biggest pork producer.

The acquisition, which must still receive approval by Smithfield shareholders, would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm.

Analysts, however, are expecting Smithfield and its suitor, Shuanghui International, to prevail. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, commonly known as Cfius (pronounced SIF-ee-us), has historically reviewed acquisitions involving key industries like energy and technology. But it has little precedent in examining them in the food sector. Both companies have argued that their combination poses no danger of compromising American food safety standards reports Farmland Grab News,

Smithfield, America’s biggest pork producer, to be sold to China.

Indeed, they have contended that the goal is to export more Smithfield pork to China, satisfying rising demand for high-quality meat in that country. “This transaction will create a leading global animal protein enterprise,” Zhijun Yang, Shuanghui’s chief executive, said in a statement on Friday.

“Shuanghui International and Smithfield have a long and consistent track record of providing customers around the world with high-quality food, and we look forward to moving ahead together as one company.” But the takeover, the largest ever of an American company by a Chinese counterpart, was almost certain to attract scrutiny.

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan and chairwoman of the committee, said in a statement: “It remains unclear what factors the committee took into account in making its decision. We still do not know if the potential impact on American food security, the transfer of taxpayer-funded innovation to a foreign competitor, or China’s protectionist trade barriers were considered. It’s troubling that taxpayers have received no assurances that these critical issues have been taken into account in transferring control of one of America’s largest food producers to a Chinese competitor with a spotty record on food safety.”

Washington lawmakers have expressed concerns that the purchase of Smithfield by a Chinese company could squeeze U.S. pork supply as more of the meat goes overseas while leaving the U.S. susceptible to food safety concerns that have plagued Chinese companies, including Shuanghui. They also have worried that the acquisition would lead to additional takeovers of U.S. food companies by Chinese firms.

See more at USA Today.com / Business

Connected to the Communist Party.
.

Two witnesses called by the committee — Usha C.V. Haley, an expert on Chinese business strategy at West Virginia University, and Daniel Slane, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a group appointed by Congress — expressed multiple doubts about the transaction.

Ms. Haley said that pork was a “strategically important industry for China” as the growing ranks of the middle class demand more sources of high-quality protein. “The same patterns that occurred in other strategically important industries,” like paper, steel and glass, she said, “will repeat in this sector and the United States will lose its competitive edge in food, becoming dependent on China.”

Mr. Slane said that the fact that Shuanghui was effectively controlled by the Chinese government meant that it presented a national security threat to the United States.

The top executive at Shuanghui “is a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. Slane said, and he was appointed to that job by the party. “If he does not do what they say, they will remove him or worse.”

In addition, the transaction is being financed in part by the Bank of China, Mr. Slane said. “The Bank of China does not finance any transaction unless it is told to do so by the Chinese government,” he said. “By any measure, this is a Chinese-controlled company.”

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See more at New York Times.

_________________________________

A Serf bows to his Lord.
Free men own private property. Serfs own nothing and serve as tax slaves,
working the land and forced to turn over the wealth they produced to
their Lords and Masters in Government in return for "protection".

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