Warner: Closing Chinese Consulate ‘in Our National Security Interest’

On Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) praised the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston and warned companies that deciding to “sacrifice our values and principles to try to get access to the Chinese market is going to come back and bite them.”

Warner said, “I can tell you, for the last two years, I, and other members of the Intel. Committee, have been holding classified briefings with business leaders and academic leaders about the concerted efforts of the Chinese Communist Party to steal our intellectual property, to steal it from companies, to steal it from universities, to be on better guard and greater guard. The fact that many of the Chinese tech companies are in effect arms of the Chinese state, and I think, without getting into the specifics, I think the FBI action is appropriate, and I think companies need to acknowledge that doing business with a lot of these Chinese firms, do it at your own risk, and the idea that they’re going to sacrifice our values and principles to try to get access to the Chinese market is going to come back and bite them.”

He added, “I know there will be some reaction from China, but this is in our national security interest, and more American businesses and universities need to acknowledge, recognize, and guard against this problem.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett