Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat and a potential Vice Presidential pick for Kamala Harris, has a past that intertwines with the Chinese.
Before his political career, Kelly was an astronaut and an entrepreneur, founding a company that specialized in spy balloons. This venture, intriguingly, received funding from Chinese sources, a fact that has gained relevance in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon controversy that unfolded in February 2023.
Kelly's entrepreneurial journey began with the establishment of World View in 2012. Based in Arizona, the company initially aimed to offer space tourism via balloons. However, as technology evolved, so did the company's vision. According to Fox News, World View's funding came, in part, from Chinese venture capital with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
"As we matured our technology, we recognized an opportunity for immediate use cases for our technology through remote sensing services to defense, scientific and commercial customers," a spokesperson for World View told Fox News. The company's primary business now involves providing remote sensing services to the US Department of Defense and its allies, as well as scientific organizations like NASA and NOAA, offering a unique perspective from the atmospheric layer of the stratosphere.
World View's funding history reveals a connection to Tencent, one of China's largest corporations. Reports indicate that Tencent provided venture capital to World View in 2013 and again in 2016. Tencent's founders include Zhang Zhidong, "Pony" Ma Huateng, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan, and Zeng Liqing, with "Pony" Ma, the current CEO, ranking as the fourth wealthiest man in China last year.
Despite these connections, World View maintains that Tencent has "zero access, zero input, and zero control" over the company. "The current leadership believed it was a mistake for the company to accept Chinese investment when it did," World View stated. However, the early investment from Tencent and the company's shift to spy balloon technology raise questions about Kelly's suitability as a VP candidate, particularly in light of recent spy balloon sightings in the US.
Kelly stepped down from his role at World View in 2019, with any remaining financial interest held in a blind trust. He relinquished all access, interest, and control of the company to focus on his Senate run.
Yet, as the New York Times noted in a conversation with Arizona Republican operative Daniel Scarpinato, "Mr. Kelly has also not faced the harsh spotlight of a national campaign, and has potential political liabilities like a high-altitude surveillance balloon company he helped found with Chinese venture capital." Kelly's past entrepreneurial endeavors and their ties to China may yet cast a shadow on his political future.
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