Great Lakes Wire

John Robert Moolenaar, Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), announced that major banks have been subpoenaed to ensure transparency over potential U.S. funding of Chinese military companies. This statement was made in a press release.

"Congress has a duty to ensure U.S. capital isn't funding the Chinese military," said Robert Moolenaar, according to Select Committee on the CCP. "That's why I've issued subpoenas to the CEOs of JPMorgan and Bank of America. We asked for answers months ago. Wall Street shouldn't be underwriting Chinese military companies—and the American people deserve transparency."

According to Reuters, in April 2025, the House Select Committee on China, chaired by Representative John Moolenaar, issued subpoenas to JPMorgan and Bank of America CEOs following their roles in underwriting the Hong Kong Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Chinese battery firm CATL. The CEOs were asked to produce documents by an August 8 compliance deadline after reportedly failing to provide sufficient prior responses. JPMorgan provided only one public document, while Bank of America submitted ten documents, nine of which were public. The move was framed as a national security concern tied to CATL’s alleged connections to China’s military–industrial fusion strategy.

As noted by The Heritage Foundation, over the past decade, U.S. investment in China likely reached between $2 trillion and $3 trillion, much of which may have supported China’s military development given the country’s military-civil fusion policies. This flow occurred with minimal transparency or oversight, prompting national security experts to criticize the lack of scrutiny. An executive order in August 2023 began addressing these risks; however, analysts argued congressional action remained essential to fill gaps.

The Battery Technology report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) warns that China’s dominance over the lithium-ion battery supply chain—including over 80% of critical materials and 94% of LFP battery production—poses serious economic and national security risks for the U.S. and its allies. The report argues that companies like CATL benefit from non-market practices such as state subsidies and vertical integration, holding structural leverage that could enable supply chain coercion in geopolitical conflicts. FDD recommends U.S. legislative actions to build domestic capacity and limit strategic dependencies on Chinese firms such as CATL.

Congressman John Moolenaar chairs the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the CCP and represents Michigan’s Second District. He is Michigan's only member of the House Appropriations Committee, serving on agriculture, health, education, and national security subcommittees. With a background as a chemist, business developer, and school administrator, he holds degrees from Hope College and Harvard University. Moolenaar focuses on fiscal responsibility, veterans' affairs, seniors' issues, and countering CCP threats.