Abbott directs state agencies to divest from investments originating from China

In preparation for the legislative session that begins in January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued several directives this week to combat threats posed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The legislature is expected introduce and vote on several China-related bills next year.

Abbott’s first China-related executive order issued this week was designed to protect Texans of Chinese descent from CCP and PRC operatives targeting them by authorizing Texas Department of Public Safety officers to investigate and arrest alleged offenders. He next issued a second executive order directing the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Public Utility Commission of Texas to prepare for potential threats against Texas’ critical infrastructure from a hostile foreign government or proxies, including the CCP and PRC, The Center Square reported.

On Thursday, he issued his third directive to state agencies to divest from investments originating from China. In a letter to state agency heads, he said, “Security of Texas and Texans is of utmost importance. That includes the financial security of Texas state investments. Threats to that security can come from foreign adversaries,” including the CCP.

The CCP has engaged in “belligerent actions across the Southeastern Pacific region” and worldwide, he said, leading to increased instability and financial risk to Texas holding investments in China.

“As Chinese aggression against the United States and its allies seems likely to continue,” he said financial risks associated with holding investments in China will also increase. “Therefore, all investments of state funds in China must be evaluated and immediately addressed.”

He also highlighted in his letter other actions he’s taken to protect Texans from alleged CCP threats, including instructing the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company to divest from China.

In 2023, he and the governors of South Dakota, Iowa and Mississippi encouraged Vanguard “to create new emerging market funds isolated from the risk posed by the CCP [allowing the states to] have an option to protect our citizens from exposure to the CCP without jeopardizing our financial returns.”

The governors wrote to Vanguard expressing support of its plan to create a new emerging markets fund that excludes any investments in China. In 2020, Vanguard returned over $20 billion in managed assets to government and government-backed clients in China.

The governors also expressed concerns about China “ramping up its efforts to infiltrate the United States and targeting our states in order to do so; purchasing significantly more American land, particularly farmland, in order to control our food supply and collect critically important intelligence information in the process; invading the homes of 150 million monthly active TikTok users in the United States and using the app to collect data off of our people’s devices; brazenly sending a spy balloon across the American homeland with the intent of gathering intelligence on American military installations; and gaining entry, under the guise of diplomatic missions and exchange programs, into our universities, governments, and private sector institutions in an orchestrated attempt to manipulate almost every facet of our day-to-day lives.”

Abbott’s latest directive prohibits state agencies’ investing entities from making any new investments of state funds in China. If the entities are currently investing in China, they “are required to divest at the first available opportunity.”

“Texas will defend and safeguard itself and our public treasury from any potential threat, including those posed by the CCP,” he said.

Abbott’s orders were also issued after the Texas House Select Committee on Securing Texas from Hostile Foreign Organizations recently held several forums and hearings to identify potential threats and make policy recommendations to the legislature. House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, formed the committee earlier this year selecting state Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mt. Pleasant, to chair it, The Center Square reported.

“Texas is known around the world as America’s leader in economic opportunity, innovation and personal freedoms. But this legacy also makes us a target for foreign economic aggression and subversive influences,” Phelan said. The committee was tasked with studying “the threat posed by these groups and their affiliates on the Texas economy, statewide security and fundamental American values.”