While U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Southern California today is angering Beijing, a key House panel’s discussions this week with several American companies about China’s growing influence on their industries is also likely to ruffle feathers in the world’s second-biggest economy.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers from the chamber’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is expected to meet on Wednesday in Los Angeles with Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
CEO Bob Iger and other entertainment-industry leaders.
On Thursday, the committee members are slated to meet in the Bay Area with Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
President Brad Smith, executives from Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
GOOGL,
and Palantir Technologies Inc.
PLTR,
and other tech-industry figures, and they are due to talk on Friday with Apple Inc.
AAPL,
CEO Tim Cook, according to multiple published reports.
The chair of the select committee, Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, has been taking a tough stance toward U.S. enterprises that do business in China.
Gallagher said in a radio interview in January that “Big Tech has to confront the growing suspicion about their allegiances” and referred to “greedy executives in Hollywood.” He also promised to have Iger and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver testify before his panel. This month, the congressman has been among the U.S. lawmakers highlighting security concerns over the technology in cargo cranes made by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co.
600320,
also known as ZPMC.
Apple generates about 18% of its revenue from mainland China, according to FactSet data. For both Disney and Alphabet, China accounts for 4% of revenue; for Microsoft, it’s 12%; and for Palantir, it’s 7%.
Both Democrats and Republicans appear increasingly eager to take a firm stand against Beijing. Signs of that came last month when TikTok’s CEO was grilled at a Capitol Hill hearing, as well as in January when the narrowly divided House voted overwhelmingly in favor of setting up the Select Committee on the CCP .
“Congress, in our view, has determined that the status quo of U.S.-China relations is unacceptable, but lawmakers have yet to arrive at a shared legislative roadmap,” said Benjamin Salisbury, director of research at Height Capital Markets, in a note this week.
“In that void, the Select Committee is likely to shape much of Congress’ rhetorical
and legislative agenda,” he said.
McCarthy, a California Republican, is expected to meet on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern time), with Taiwan’s leader at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
Now read: Taiwan defies China pressure before its president meets Kevin McCarthy
This post was originally published on Market Watch
