For the past several weeks, I have been reporting on how Communist China took control of Smithfield Foods, America’s largest pork producer. Sadly, Smithfield is not an isolated case. It is a pattern, and the CCP is using the same playbook in the maritime industry.
Ferretti Group is a global shipbuilder behind brands like Riva, Pershing, Custom Line, and Wally. It has nearly 10% of the global luxury yacht market, and these boats visit ports across the US and Europe. Now, Ferretti is controlled by Weichai Group, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate.
Weichai was founded in 1946 to make rifles for the People’s Liberation Army during China’s civil war. It has built tank engines for the PLA since the 1970s. Its engines power the PHL-11 rocket launcher that the blacklisted arms giant NORINCO supplies to the Chinese military. Weichai’s client list includes U.S.-sanctioned defense contractors like MAZ of Belarus and Kamaz of Russia, which supply Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Weichai is wholly owned by Shandong Heavy Industry Group, which answers to China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration (SASAC), the Chinese state owned asset management commission.
SASAC is mentioned in the Pentagon’s 1260H list a WHOPPING 74 TIMES, by far more than any other entity mentioned on the list. To get on the 1260H list, a company doesn’t need to be directly owned by the Chinese government; it can merely be “affiliated” or “indirectly” owned. 21 companies on the current list are “affiliated” with SASAC and 28 are “indirectly” owned. For 9 out of the 28 indirectly owned companies, SASAC ownership was the sole basis the Department of War cited. Weichai’s case is stronger than all of those because, as Sen. Jim Banks wrote in a statement, Weichai has direct ties to blacklisted Chinese military companies.
In a press release, Senator Banks wrote,
“Weichai’s collaborations with PRC defense companies are equally concerning. NORINCO, a blacklisted Chinese military company that supplies the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), procures Weichai engines for use in the PHL-11 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Weichai also signed a cooperation agreement with Hubei Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle Co., a subsidiary of the blacklisted China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), further demonstrating its integration into China’s defense industrial base.”
Weichai officially holds just 39.5% of Ferretti, but at the May 2026 shareholder meeting, it seized eight of the nine board seats with the decisive help of China-linked shareholders who each stayed just under Italy’s 3% disclosure threshold, including Bank of China.
Every connected Ferretti vessel continuously collects and transmits engine telemetry, satellite communications traffic, and detailed profiles of how its owner uses it. Under China’s National Intelligence Law, any Chinese company, Weichai included, can be compelled to hand over the data it holds to Chinese state intelligence on demand. That means the movements, habits, guest lists, and communications of American executives, defense contractors, financiers, and political donors who own these boats can easily end up in Beijing’s hands.
Ferretti’s headquarters is in Italy. Italy’s former Chief of Defense Staff, General Vincenzo Camporini, stated:
“Potentially hundreds of top-of-the-line Italian vessels, often owned by top Western business figures, are thus sharing their data with a group that answers to Beijing. There’s no need for espionage scenarios: the product’s standard digital architecture is sufficient.”
Every Ferretti yacht tied up in a U.S. harbor, next to a naval base, or cruising past port infrastructure is a potential listening post for the Chinese Communist Party. In 2023, the US government spent billions of dollars to replace every Chinese-made crane in American ports because each one could be used for spying or to shut down American ports. Now, China doesn’t need the cranes for spying, because it owns a growing share of the ships that can do the spying for the CCP.
Ferretti makes fast patrol boats and interceptors for the Italian Navy, Coast Guard, and police, making its technology directly applicable for military purposes. It is officially designated a strategic asset under Italy’s national security law.
Weichai executives have talked openly about moving Ferretti’s production technology to a new marine hub in Qingdao, the city that hosts the headquarters of the PLA Navy’s Northern Theater Command and a submarine base. Weichai’s Qingdao yard was declared operational in January 2026 and has yet to launch a single vessel. It is waiting for Italian technology to arrive. This is what China’s “military-civil fusion” strategy looks like: buy the company, strip the technology, and feed it to the PLA.
Unlike the Smithfield fight, where many Republicans have been bought and paid for, some in Washington are paying attention to Weichai. Last month, Senator Jim Banks sent a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth urging him to add Weichai to the Department of War’s Section 1260H list of Chinese Military Companies.
Banks wrote that Weichai’s relationships with the CCP:
“demonstrate its connections to the CCP’s industrial policy, government support, and collaboration with institutions that directly advance China’s military-civil fusion strategy and defense industrial base.”
That is exactly what the Pentagon did in 2025 to the Chinese shipping giant COSCO, which was accused of using concealed equipment on its vessels to intercept U.S. military communications near our coastline. A 1260H designation would bar Weichai from Pentagon contracts and put every Western company that does business with it on notice.
In Rome, lawmakers from the governing coalition are pressing the government to invoke Italy’s “Golden Power” national security protections against Weichai’s takeover, but the matter is under review. The Italians are at least asking the right question. Washington should be answering it.
Secretary Hegseth should grant Senator Banks’ request and put Weichai and Ferretti on the 1260H list given their connections with the CCP. American companies should stop doing business with Ferretti Group immediately.
I have said this about Smithfield Foods and I will say it again about Ferretti. Communist China wants to destroy America, and it does not need to fire a single shot to do it. The US government must take decisive action to prevent China from controlling key industries with direct implications for US national security. It is the America First thing to do.
