In yet another random act of federalism from the Sunshine State, Florida is taking action against communist China and “woke corporations” operating in the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida will investigate its holdings in Chinese companies and “retake control of its shareholder proxy voting from ideology-crazed investment funds,” Just the News reports.
The announcement came after DeSantis had a meeting with two other State Board of Administration trustees, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Attorney General Ashley Moody.
DeSantis, Patronis and Moody voted to revoke all proxy voting authority that had previously been given to outside fund managers, clarifying that all fund managers should act only in the financial interest of the state’s funds. They also announced they would conduct a survey of all the Florida Retirement System’s investments in order to determine how many assets Florida has in Chinese companies.
“If you look at how these major companies behave when faced with Chinese disapproval, they censor what the CCP tells them to censor and we see groveling apologies,” DeSantis said. “Go back a generation, and the idea of the American elites was, ‘If we allow China into the WTO and give them most favored nation status, that will make China more like us.’ This experiment has failed and it has endangered our nation’s national and economic security.”
Upon the legislature’s return in January, DeSantis wants them to make statutory changes to prevent the state from using taxpayer dollars to invest in China and look for ways to bring jobs to Florida.
“I also don’t think that our country as a whole, but certainly Florida, would like to see more production and manufacturing re-shored and we would be a great place to do that,” DeSantis said.
“A sad reality is that too many federal leaders for too long have been missing in action when it has come to holding China accountable. As Americans got our cheap goods, the Chinese government wasn’t playing by the rules when it came to intellectual property or trade. Meanwhile, they’ve been busy buying influence in Hollywood and Washington. Unfortunately, between COVID and the supply chain issues, we’ve seen how reliant our country has become on China,” Patronis said.
“Chinese government control and influence over businesses operating in China should be a source of concern for anyone investing there. As fiduciaries, we should understand these risks and ensure they are being evaluated by the Florida Retirement System,” Moody said.
