'China was playing chess while the rest of us were playing checkers': Bombshell study finds $200 billion of secret loans to U.S. businesses over 25 years | Fortune

"China's state lenders have funneled $200 billion into U.S. businesses for a quarter of a century, but many of the loans have been kept secret because the money was first routed through shell companies in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Delaware and elsewhere that helped obscure their origins, according to AidData, a research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia."

"More alarming, much of the lending was to help Chinese companies buy stakes in U.S. businesses, many tied to critical technology and national security, including a robotics maker, a semiconductor company and a biotech firm. The report found a far more widespread and sophisticated lending network than previously thought - a web of financial obligations extending beyond developing countries to rich ones, including the U.K., Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and other U.S. allies."

Chinese state lenders provided about $200 billion to U.S. businesses over 25 years, frequently routing funds through shell companies in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Delaware and other jurisdictions to obscure their origins. Much of the lending supported Chinese acquisitions of stakes in U.S. firms connected to robotics, semiconductors and biotechnology, raising technology and security concerns. The financial network extends to wealthy allied countries such as the U.K., Germany, Australia and the Netherlands. State-owned lenders are controlled by China’s central government and the Communist Party's Central Financial Commission. The scale, secrecy and strategic targeting of loans leave security and technology implications insufficiently understood.

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