Econontersect: The Idaho Statesman reported a few months ago that a Chinese company, China National Machinery Industry Corp. (Sinomach for short), has approached city and state leaders about building a technology zone comprised of industry, retail and homes south of Boise. The same company is also interested in building a fertilizer plant near American Falls, ID. The Statesman says that a number of other Chinese companies are interested in investing and building in America as well.Hoku Materials is currently employing 500 in the construction of a polysilicon solar panel plant in Pocatello, which will employ 250 permanently once operation begins. In addition, Chinese are pledging investment dollars in return for green cards for immigration. From the Idaho Statesman:
The Idaho Regional Center, a company developing the Gold Hill Mine near Placerville and Blackhawk on the River near McCall, has millions of dollars in escrow from Chinese investors awaiting approval of green cards from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Once approved, the money will be released and the gold processing plant is expected to go into production, said Sima Muroff, head of the regional center.
Several other regional centers have started in the state. They allow investors a chance to get green cards in exchange for investments of $500,000 to $1 million.
The InvestIdaho Regional Center is expected to make an announcement next week. Two others, Idaho EB-5 Regional Center and the Idaho Global Investment Center in eastern Idaho, are organizing.
The Statesman also reports that Sinomach is looking for projects in other states that would make investments and start employment in such areas as electrical transmission and alternative energy. States mantioned were Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
All views of what is going on are not positive, however. Another excerpt from the Statesman:
Yeh Ling-Ling, executive director of the Alliance for a Sustainable USA, said U.S. businesses should be cautious about making contracts that give Chinese companies the best jobs — though she is more worried about investment programs that encourage immigration, which Idaho also has jumped into this year.
“I believe that Idaho or other American companies should first seek investments from America and employ American engineers first,” said Ling-Ling, a naturalized citizen from Orinda, Calif., who was born in Vietnam of Chinese parents.
The American Dream also has some cautionary notes, indicating that Sinomach is an SOE (state operated enterprise), essentially an arm of the Chinese government. The AD says that the U.S. government has already set up 257 “foreign trade zones” across America and asks a question and proposes some disturbing answers:
So will all of this “foreign investment” really bring jobs back to the American people?
Perhaps a few, but the truth is that these “special economic zones” that the Chinese are setting up are designed to be self-contained communist Chinese communities. Some Americans will likely be employed in these areas, but not nearly as many as our politicians would have you to believe.
In addition, these “special economic zones” represent a massive national security threat. The communist Chinese could potentially be able to bring in and store massive amounts of military equipment virtually undetected.
Editor’s note: The American Dream has an agenda stated in their banner head: “Waking People Up And Getting Them To Realize That The American Dream Is Quickly Becoming The American Nightmare.”
Sources: Idaho Statesman and The American Dream
Hat tip to Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture.
