China has, for some time, had a strategic and intense program of insinuating itself into every aspect of American life. However, Beijing's buying spree attempting to acquire land close to US military facilities or other national security installations may be coming to a sudden halt. In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, the recent People's Republic of China's (PRC) excellent balloon adventure across the US heartland has had an effect the PRC had not anticipated. Seeing the photos of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) high-tech intelligence-gathering airbag drifting leisurely over or next to military bases like Malmstrom, AFB, and Whiteman, AFB brought home to Americans the extent to which China is surveilling the homeland.
Not in my backyard is the rallying cry across the US when it comes to China-owned enterprises. Recently, a PRC-owned mega food additives products company Fufeng Group paid $2.3 million for 300 acres of farmland in North Dakota. The Fufeng Group is the largest producer of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in mainland China. But the North Dakota property won't be part of the Fufeng Group's production capabilities. Members of the Grand Forks, ND city council voted unanimously 5-0 to deny the PRC company from putting buildings or infrastructure on the land. "The company was planning to invest $700 million to open the mill," Greg Norman wrote for Fox Business. The decision by the Grand Forks City Council was a vote to "[B]asically deny infrastructure and deny building permits. So, they have the land, but they have no ability to build anything on it," Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski told Fox News.
China Land Grab Nixed by City Council
The Grand Forks City Council vote ended a year-long process to convince citizens that the Fufeng Group project would benefit the city's economy, providing as many as 200 jobs. But the citizens chose national security over money. You see, Grand Forks is a short 12-mile drive from Grand Forks Air Force Base, the home of highly classified Global Hawk and similar Unmanned Aerial Vehicle operations. The location where the CCP agri-facility was to be placed would have allowed People's Liberation Army intelligence gatherers excellent access to sensitive US technology. "The base is also the home of a new space networking center, which a North Dakota senator said 'handles the backbone of all US military communications across the globe,'" CNBC's Eamon Javers wrote.
North Dakota isn't the only state to experience the expansion of China's land grab. Texas was a target for a large Chinese land acquisition to create a wind farm on 130,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base at Del Rio, Texas, the Air Force's largest pilot training base. "[T]he state responded with a ban on such infrastructure projects by those with direct ties to China," The New York Times reported. "Now, a Republican state senator is proposing to broaden the ban, seeking to stop Chinese citizens and companies from buying land, homes or any other real estate in Texas," the NYT continued. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, resolutely favored such a bill. "A Bill is filed in Texas legislature to ban citizens, governments & entities of China, Iran, North Korea & Russia from purchasing land in Texas. I will sign it," Abbott tweeted. In 2020 Texas lawmakers were concerned that the wind farm "could be used to spy on American troops, disrupt flight routes, and give Beijing a foothold in the US electrical grid," according to Foreign Policy.
China Buying a Few Hundred Acres Isn’t the Half of It
(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
The problem is more widespread than the Chinese holding 100 acres of property in North Dakota. In a Congressional Research Report entitled "Foreign Ownership and Holdings of US Agricultural Land," the amount of US farmland held by the PRC is revealed to be 383,935 acres. Additionally, Chinese investments and contracts in the US between 2005 and 2022 totaled $193 billion, according to the American Enterprise Institute's China Global Investment Tracker. The trend has been for the PRC to attempt to become part of the fabric of American life – if not through social media like TikTok, then through buying property and facilities to gather intelligence on what Americans are doing generally. But more troubling are the persistent Chinese efforts to surveil what is happening at US defense facilities in real-time.
More Americans and US legislators are waking up to the threat China represents to the internal security of the US. The Beijing balloon was the catalyst to move the country off the dime. "In Congress and statehouses, the balloon's journey added traction to decades-old concerns about foreign land ownership. US Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, is sponsoring legislation to include agriculture as a factor in national security decisions allowing foreign real estate investments," the Associated Press reports. Echoing the sentiment, "What is abundantly clear after Biden's Chinese spying debacle is that no Chinese corporation should be permitted to own American farmland. I'm introducing legislation to stop it. Protect American farmers," Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted. Whatever the Chinese intended with their reconnaissance "airship" mission over the US, America's reaction is not working in the PRC's favor. And it shouldn't.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
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