WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Food and Commercial Workers International Union calls on public pension funds invested in KKR Asian Fund III to divest of Cue Group, a Chinese artificial intelligence company that collaborated with an arm of the Ministry of Public Security, the organ that oversees the surveillance system in China.¹

�We believe it is fundamentally wrong for public employees� retirement to fund any collaboration with China�s repressive surveillance state,� says David Young, International Vice President of UFCW, in letters delivered to state pension funds in Oregon and Florida, among others.

A new website called KKRChinaExposed.com and prepared by UFCW documents how Cue jointly developed surveillance technology in 2020 with a government lab run by China�s First Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security.²

The website also documents the ownership of Cue, Cue�s technology, and details about the First Research Institute�s role in China�s surveillance apparatus.

A February investigation published by The Wire China obtained confirmation from the Chinese government lab of Cue�s collaboration, while KKR and Cue denied it and removed website references to it.³

The Wire China quoted a corporate ethics expert saying: �If a private equity firm�s portfolio company works with China�s surveillance apparatus, he says, �It could hardly be a more direct line between their investment and human rights violations.��

Cue is a portfolio company of KKR Asian Fund III, which is managed by KKR & Co. [NYSE: KKR].

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1</sup>The Wire China, The Surveillance Stake, https://www.thewirechina.com/2022/02/20/the-surveillance-stake/
²https://www.36kr.com/newsflashes/3280086532097
³The Wire China, The Surveillance Stake, https://www.thewirechina.com/2022/02/20/the-surveillance-stake/

Contacts

Courtney Alexander, UFCW Research Department, [email protected] 631-834-4681