Kerry Owns Stake in Chinese Investment Group That Funds Company Blacklisted for Human Rights Abuses

Climate czar John Kerry and his wife have at least a $1 million stake in a Chinese investment group that is a major funder of China’s artificial intelligence sector—including a tech company blacklisted by the United States for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs, according to financial records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Kerry holds “over $1,000,000” in investments in Hillhouse China Value Fund L.P., according to a financial disclosure report he filed at the beginning of the year. Hillhouse is a top shareholder in YITU Technology, which is involved in China’s high-tech surveillance operation against the Uyghur people and helped develop a facial surveillance software for the Chinese government that sorts individuals by race and ethnicity, according to the New York Times.

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce added YITU to its trade restriction blacklist for being “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.”

As special presidential envoy for climate, Kerry has been heavily focused on diplomatic discussions with China, which is the top global greenhouse gas producer. Kerry has downplayed China’s persecution of the Uyghur people while attempting to negotiate climate change agreements with the Chinese government. “Life is always full of tough choices,” said Kerry last month, when asked if it was necessary to trade human rights for climate concessions. Republican lawmakers expressed concern last month that Kerry was quietly lobbying against a Senate-approved bill that would ban Chinese imports linked to Uyghur slave labor after the legislation stalled in the House.- READ MORE