Billion of U.S. dollars being poured into companies in the People's Republic of China (PRC) are being directed to military know-how or the systematic eradication of Uyghurs, according to investigation findings published February 8 by the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Five major U.S. venture capital firms invested at least $3 billion in, and provided expertise to, Chinese critical technology companies that either aid the country’s military, surveillance state or the Uyghur genocide, the report found.

The Select Committee said that, in certain cases, the lawmakers had even uncovered internal VC memorandums stating that Chinese investments were more attractive if the company supported the Chinese government's surveillance state or its strategy for technological supremacy, designed to weaken the U.S. The lawmakers also lay out how, beyond dollars, these investments provide credibility and know-how to problematic PRC companies.

The report, entitled "The CCP's Investors - How American Venture Capital Fuels the PRC Military and Human Rights Abuses," focused on five firms  — GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital China and Walden International. Between them, they invested over $1.9 billion in artificial intelligence companies that support the Chinese military and/or China’s human rights abuses, and a further $1.2 billion was funneled into China’s semiconductor sector. The sector includes companies that provide technology to the Chinese military while advancing the country's genocidal “ambitions.”

“The Committee’s findings suggest that there are billions of dollars beyond those captured in this report that have flowed into PRC companies that support the PRC’s military, digital authoritarianism and efforts to develop technological supremacy and undermine American technological leadership,” the report said. “The status quo is untenable… Decades of investment — including funding, knowledge transfer and other intangible benefits — from U.S. VCs have helped build and strengthen the PRC’s priority sectors.”

Lawmakers suggested that, as a consequence, the U.S. should restrict investments in companies sanctioned or red-flagged by the government for ties to the People's Liberation Army, forced labor or genocide. They also recommended that the U.S. implement more outbound investment restrictions in areas related to China’s critical and emerging technology sectors.