Hillary Rodham Clinton (Photo from campaign website)
Republicans are saying Hillary Rodham Clinton, while Secretary of State, should have tried to intervene and derail the controversial bankruptcy sale in 2013 of high-tech battery plants in Michigan to Chinese investors, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Todd Spangler writes:
At a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month, Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for president, decried the sale of A123 Systems — built with millions in government aid — along with those of other new energy firms, to Chinese investors, calling them "unfortunate" and a "serious" problem for high-tech industries in the U.S.
"That does concern me, because a lot of foreign companies, particularly Chinese companies ... are looking to buy American companies," she said in response to an entrepreneur who mentioned A123's sale while commenting that venture capital for new energy technology has largely fled overseas.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, in a statement to the Free Press, called Clinton's remarks "lip service" considering that as the former secretary of state, her department had a "role in signing off on these sales," including A123's to Wanxiang in early 2013.
Priebus indicated that it the issue over the sale of A123 and it facilities in Romulus and Livonia would likely surface during the presidential campaign.
The Freep reports that if Clinton had had security concerns about the Chinese gaining A123's technology, she could have called for an investigation into the matter. The Freep reports that such a move typically results in about half of the transactions being abandoned.
