US to prevent Chinese influence on US firms by restricting corporate funds

US lawmakers are trying to resolve entrepreneur Elon Musk's business ties to China, which they fear may include the Beijing connections to SpaceX, said a recent Wall Street Journal report.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced legislation aimed at rectifying the problem, according to The Hill, telling the Wall Street Journal that "any company operating in China is going to be pressured and exploited by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."

Elon Musk comes under criticism early this year for showcasing his new Tesla showroom in the Xinjiang region where China keeps millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps.

A major Muslim civil liberties organization in the US had called on Tesla motors CEO Elon Musk to close a recently-opened showroom, saying no American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority.

The problem is that all Chinese entities are legally obligated to spy for their government, a practice codified in China's National Intelligence Law of 2017, The Hill reported, adding that this may be hard for some Americans to imagine, but it is not insignificant.

"No American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "Elon Musk and Tesla must close this new showroom and cease what amounts to economic support for genocide."

According to media reports, Tesla has said it has begun operations in a showroom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. This has drawn widespread criticism.

US lawmakers accuse China of imprisoning as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps, where they are forced to produce textiles, electronics, food products, shoes, tea, and handicrafts.

Beijing, on the other hand, has repeatedly denied all accusations of being engaged in abuses in Xinjiang.

Meanwhile, the White House has urged private companies to oppose the human rights abuses and genocide by China in Xinjiang.