Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is accused of “misleading” a town hall audience earlier this month about the sale of South Carolina land to China when she was governor of the state. has been done.
Glenn Kessler, the liberal Washington Post’s resident fact-checker, said one person in the audience said, “I saw on the Internet that you gave China thousands of acres of land in South Carolina, and I wonder why.” ”, he gave Haley “four Pinocchios” for his “evasive behavior.” Would you like to do that? ”
“Don’t believe what you read on the internet…we didn’t sell the land to the Chinese. But yes, we hired a fiberglass company,” Haley replied.
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Republican presidential candidate and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at the 2023 First in the Nation Leadership Summit in Nashua, New Hampshire on October 13, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Kessler said that as South Carolina’s governor from 2011 to 2017, Haley “invited Chinese companies to the state,” adding, “Chinese capital investment in South Carolina has increased from $308 million in 2011 to 2015. In 2017, it more than doubled to nearly $670 million.”
“There’s nothing wrong with politicians changing their positions in light of new facts. Haley has become a hawk on China and has made her position a key part of her campaign platform, including President Biden. “Many politicians in both parties are wary of China’s policies,” he added, “but her response at City Hall was false and misleading.”
Kessler went on to call her comments a “political ploy” and said she denied being asked.
“The fiberglass transaction did not include a land sale because the company received nearly 200 acres of county land for free if the promised investment was made,” he wrote.
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Entrance to the Washington Post building in Washington DC (Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images)
Kessler said Chinese companies received about 1,500 acres of land during the Haley administration, most of it “through land sales.”
Kessler said the fiberglass company in question, China Resins, which has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, opened a manufacturing plant in South Carolina in 2016, which Haley called “a huge win for the state.”
“Get excited! China Jussi is creating 400 new jobs and investing $300 million right here in Colombia!” Haley wrote on Facebook at the time.
Haley defended the company’s contract at City Hall, saying, “There’s not a governor in this country or anyone in this state that isn’t committed to bringing Chinese companies into their state. There’s not a single household in this country. ” he said. It does not contain Chinese products. But there’s a difference between focusing on what undermines national security and focusing on whether I brought a fiberglass company to South Carolina. ”
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Republican presidential candidate and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley holds a town hall meeting in Nevada, Iowa on March 9, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Mr. Kessler went on to write that Mr. Haley’s language showed he wanted to “take credit for wooing the company without being accountable for the details,” adding that during his tenure, Mr. He cited a number of other Chinese companies that purchased from individuals. As a governor.
FOX News Digital has reached out to Haley’s campaign for comment. Kessler wrote that a spokesperson for Haley’s campaign declined to address City Hall’s comments on the record, but sent a statement of defense similar to one made during the event.
The statement said, “China’s influence is pervasive, with Chinese-owned companies in all 50 states and Chinese products in almost every American home.” “And stealing American technology is a clear and present national security threat.”
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“Chinese investment in U.S. glass manufacturing is not the same as it used to be, but the risks in the consumer goods sector are greater today than they were five or 10 years ago.” “We have and will continue to have the clearest vision of inclusiveness and will do what it takes to keep the American people safe.”
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