WHY HAND $50 BILLION TO STATE-RUN CHINESE FIRMS THAT ADVANCE BEIJING’S INTERESTS? That question is being asked by Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) because officials with the Federal Retirement Thrift Savings Board (FRTSB) plan to use a stock market index that includes multiple Chinese “companies” controlled by the Beijing government, including, to cite just one of many examples, AVIC.

Along with its multiple subsidiaries, AVIC develops and produces manned and unmanned aircraft, missiles and other weapons for the People’s Liberation Army, Air Force and Navy. Perhaps the more important question is why does that question have to be asked of any federal official in the first place.