Firm building facility near US military installation confirms ties to Chinese Communist party

The president of a firm building a manufacturing facility near several Midwest military bases confirmed that his firm’s China-based parent company employs Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and was previously involved in a military program during a state committee hearing on Monday.

The Chinese parent company of Cnano USA Inc. (Cnano USA) — which intends to build a facility in Kansas approximately 70 miles from Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base — employs dozens of CCP members and sold products to a Chinese university for its use in a Chinese military program, Shawn Montgomery, Cnano USA president, testified during a Kansas House Committee on Commerce, Labor and Economic Development hearing. The corporate records of Cnano USA’s China-based parent company, Cnano Jiangsu Technology Co., Ltd. (Cnano Jiangsu) state that the Chinese firm employs 28 CCP members and participated in the Chinese government’s so-called “863 Program,” which supports the development of China’s military, the DCNF recently reported based on research conducted by The Heritage Foundation Oversight Project and Heritage Action.

“I absolutely share the same concerns as all of you regarding foreign actors that could be a threat to our economy, our security, our safety and sincerely appreciate Kansas legislation’s effort to protect those fundamental interests,” Montgomery testified during Monday’s hearing concerning HB 2766, which, if adopted, will prohibit “foreign principals from countries of concern from holding any interest in certain real property in this state,” according to its text.

Kansas Republican state House Majority Leader Chris Croft told the DCNF that the bill will address constituent concerns regarding “CCP influence in our backyard.” However, Montgomery expressed “specific concerns” about the legislation during Monday’s hearing, citing the bill’s proposed 150-mile buffer zone around military installations.

Cnano USA is building an approximately $95 million manufacturing facility in Kansas because the state is “centrally located” and a U.S. facility will allow Cnano Jiangsu to avoid “costly trade tariffs,” according to Montgomery. The facility will produce carbon nanotubes that are “150,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair,” “highly conductive” and used in batteries and other products, he said.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson issued an executive order in January 2024 banning entities tied to China from purchasing agricultural land within 10 miles of any “critical military facilities” in Missouri following the DCNF’s report. More recently, House and Senate Republicans led by Kansas Rep. Jake LaTurner and Missouri Rep. Mark Alford urged the Treasury Department and the Department of Defense to investigate Cnano USA, and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has also called on the Biden administration to restrict foreign land ownership near military bases such as Whiteman Air Force Base.

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