DeSantis hides past efforts to lure Chinese companies: Haley

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of scrubbing references to China from a government website promoting economic development in the Sunshine State. 

The Haley campaign claims Enterprise Florida, a public–private partnership chaired by DeSantis and recently rebranded as Select Florida, deleted references to a Hong Kong office and efforts to recruit Chinese investment in Florida from its website a day after a news report detailed DeSantis’ alleged dealings with the US adversary. 

“Ron DeSantis has been knee-deep in recruiting Chinese companies to Florida for years,” Haley campaign spokesperson Nachama Soloveichik said in a statement.

“Now that he’s running for president, he’s going to great lengths to hide all the evidence. The more Ron DeSantis loses, the more he lies.”

As of Thursday, a link to the Florida economic development group’s board of directors page leads to a “404 Page Not Found.”

The Haley campaign notes that “yesterday,” the same link took people to page prominently showing DeSantis, a 2024 White House hopeful, as the chairman of Enterprise Florida’s board of directors. 

The former South Carolina governor’s team points out that a 2020 report making the case for why “Florida is an ideal business destination for Chinese companies” and a map showing an Enterprise Florida office in Hong Kong have also vanished from the website. 

“EFI Hong Kong leveraged trade shows and industry or investment forums to expand our network and explore trade and investment opportunities for Florida,” one line of the report read, according to the Haley campaign, which was viewable online Wednesday. 

The Florida governor’s administration told the Messenger that it removed “outdated information” from the revamped website and that the entity ended its relationships with Chinese businesses earlier this year “upon the realization that companies on the Hong Kong stock exchange have become infiltrated with investments from China’s military.”

The DeSantis campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. 

Haley is 5 points behind DeSantis in the battle for second place in the 2024 GOP primary race, according to a RealClearPolitics average of national polls. Former President Donald Trump leads the contest nationally by 46 points, with 59.3% support. 

A Des Moines Register poll published Monday, however, shows Haley tied with DeSantis – at 16% – for second in Iowa, which will hold the first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses on Jan. 15. 

Haley and DeSantis will square off face-to-face next week during the third GOP primary debate in Miami.