The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence met on Wednesday, and U.S. Senator John Cornyn used the opportunity to question some top intelligence officials about American companies investing in companies based in China.
"American investment in China has been financing the rise of China's economy and the rise of their military might," he said. "We, in effect, are financing our number one adversary. It's relatively opaque to the intelligence community and certainly to the policy makers".
Cornyn noted that the U.S. already has a committee that reviews some investments in the United States by entities overseas. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) checks some types of transactions for national security risks. He questioned intelligence officials on whether a similar committee could be set up for U.S. investments in China.
Cornyn also said he was concerned that China produces many of the materials used in the production of fentanyl.
"Last year we lost 108,000 Americans to drugs that are coming across the southwestern border," he said. "Roughly 78,000 of those deaths were caused by synthetic opioids - fentanyl. We know where the precursors are coming from - they're coming largely from China."