U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a meeting of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC, September 14, 2023.
Olivier Doulieri | AFP | Getty Images
America president Joe Biden issues order A China-backed cryptocurrency mining company sold land near a Wyoming nuclear missile site on Monday, citing national security concerns.
MineOne acquired the property in June 2022, locating its operations within a mile of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, which is “a strategic missile base and key to the U.S. nuclear triad,” according to the White House. elements”.
The presidential order said the company’s website contained “specialized foreign equipment that may facilitate surveillance and espionage activities.”
Biden said there was “credible evidence” that the British Virgin Islands company, majority-owned by Chinese citizens, “may take actions that threaten to harm U.S. national security.”
MineOne was ordered to vacate the land within the next 120 days and remove certain improvements and equipment from the property. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The Biden administration’s move comes amid a broader crackdown on Chinese companies in the United States ahead of the upcoming presidential election and amid tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
In April, Biden signed a law that forced the separation of social media platform TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance on the grounds of national security. Meanwhile, the government is expected to impose new tariffs on several electric vehicles, medical supplies and other equipment imported from China as soon as Tuesday.
The latest order against MineOne follows an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government agency chaired by the U.S. Treasury Department that investigates corporate transactions for national security concerns.
A 2018 law Grants CFIUS authority to review property transactions near sensitive U.S. facilities, including Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.
In September, Biden issued an executive order directing the committee to consider more national security risk factors in its assessment. The agency also launched an investigation into TikTok.
Under the White House order, MineOne’s property purchases were not submitted to CFIUS until CFIUS launched an investigation based on public tips.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that the move against MineOne “underscores the critical gatekeeper role CFIUS plays in ensuring foreign investment does not harm our national security.”
China has also stepped up scrutiny of U.S. companies in recent years, citing national security concerns. The country recently tightened its laws against sharing state secrets to include a wide range of “work secrets.”
The country has also restricted some U.S. tech companies, such as Micron Last year, the United States banned sales to the country’s critical infrastructure following security reviews and crackdowns on some foreign consultancies.
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