DeSantis Targets China
Local News Staff 
Gov. Ron DeSantis has gone on the offensive against Chinese influence in recent months, signing a bill restricting what land Chinese companies and citizens can buy in Florida and suspending state scholarships to four Florida schools over alleged links to China.
But this August he took a check for more than $11,000 from the CEO of a Tampa refrigerant company with direct backing from China. It was just the latest in years of financial support that the company, iGas USA, has given DeSantis.
Last year DeSantis held a rally at the Chinese-backed refrigerant company’s Tampa complex.
The rally and contributions are part of a recent wave of political giving by iGas and entities associated with its CEO, Xianbin “Ben” Meng. All told, the companies and employees have made more than $1.1 million in federal and state political contributions in the past five years, with 98% of the money going to Republican candidates and committees.
The biggest share of that money, $340,000, went to DeSantis and committees affiliated with him.
