Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs garnered national headlines on June 2 when she vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would have barred China’s communist government from owning land near military installations in the Grand Canyon State.
On the surface, it is a shocking move. Attempts on the state and local level to thwart the growth of China’s already sizable footprint within the US interior have flourished in recent years. And the proposed bill in Arizona clearly identified the stark national security implications involved.
“The actual Chinese government, our enemy, was trying to lease buildings near the (Luke Air Force) base,” located about 15 miles outside of Phoenix, bill sponsor Republican Sen. Janae Shamp said during a floor debate on the legislation in February. But in her veto letter to the state senate, Hobbs declared that the bill “lacks clear implementation criteria and opens the door to arbitrary enforcement.”
Those last two words are meant to imply discrimination. Once again, a sitting Democratic governor is leaning on progressive tropes about racism and social injustice to stand in the way of legislation meant to address an issue of obvious pressing concern to the national interest. But that isn’t the half of it.
From China’s Balloon Man to Arizona Senator?
For most of the 21st century, prominent Arizona political figures have been openly cozying up to communist China as that nation, widely considered to be the number one geopolitical foe of the United States today, meticulously carved out a powerful economic standing within the state’s borders. This effort, all done in the name of promoting “business” and “trade,” has been the handiwork of both Democrats and Republicans.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) had close business ties with China to such a sensitive national security degree that it would be humorous if the stakes weren’t so high. Remember the Chinese spy balloon saga of 2023? Kelly co-founded a high-altitude, near-space exploration venture called World View Enterprises that utilized balloons “for launching lower-altitude ‘stratollites’ for commercial and governmental mapping and surveillance,” The Arizona Republic reported last August. Sound familiar? The company was glued to the hip with China.
“World View's long-time investors include Tencent Holdings, a Chinese tech company that operates the WeChat messaging and social media service that is among the world's largest. And like other tech companies in China, it has close working ties to the ruling Communist Party in Beijing,” The Republic detailed.
“Tencent has sought to expand its relations with American tech firms, a move that has raised national security concerns that the Chinese government could be surreptitiously gathering information using American technology,” the paper noted. Kelly separated himself from World View only when he decided to run for his current Senate seat in 2019.
GOP Governors Open an Entire State to Red Chinese
As this unfolded, Arizona’s governor from 2015 to 2023 was a Republican ex-business executive with vast personal financial interests in China. Doug Ducey made his fortune as CEO of the Cold Stone Creamery ice cream chain from 1995 to 2007. Aggressive expansion into the Chinese market was a priority for Ducey at Cold Stone. Upon becoming governor, he made it known to the Chinese that Arizona was open for business, offering its most valuable national security assets.
“We just had a great meeting with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce just now. And, very exciting, lots of opportunities, including public-private partnerships,” Ducey told state-affiliated media outlet China Daily in a stunningly forthright 2017 interview. “I’ve mentioned semiconductors, electronics, aerospace, our defense industry, mining and ores that we do … So I think from the franchise business to the aerospace and defense business, we would like to do more business with China, with Chinese business people.”
Before Ducey, Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, who held the post from 2009 to 2015, was just as avid in her flirtations with the Beijing regime. A 2011 “trade mission” that she took to China revealed how important Arizona was to the communist government.
“One of the biggest surprises, Brewer said, was that the Chinese business executives knew so much – and not only about Arizona,” Capitol Media Services reported at the time. “‘They had done their research on me,’ Brewer said, right down to the financial condition Arizona was in when she became governor in early 2009.” They knew what they wanted, all right.
“China is Arizona's third largest export partner, with the state shipping $1.03 billion in goods to that country last year according to the US-China Business Council,” the 2011 news article added. “More than half of that is in computers and electronics, with $123 million in minerals and ore, $111 million in agricultural products and $73 million in all types of machinery except electrical.” Everything an expansionist authoritarian government seeking to upgrade its military technology could desire.
“Top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo on [Sept. 6] praised the fast growing regional cooperation between China and the southwestern US state of Arizona as he started his US tour here,” state-run China Daily reported in 2009.
“Arizona is competitive in aviation and aerospace technology, biotechnology, renewable energy, energy conservation, and environmental protection, while China is focusing on economic restructuring, industrial upgrade and change of development mode,” Wu was quoted as saying. “All of that brings a new, major opportunity for the two sides to deepen and expand cooperation. That's why I chose Arizona as the first stop of my US tour.”
The results of all this China canoodling from 10 to 15 years ago are hitting home now. The scoreboard isn’t hard to read. China “sells a lot more to Arizona than the other way around. China bought $1.7 billion of Arizona products in 2024 but sold three times as much, $5.4 billion,” The Arizona Republic reported in April.
“Almost 10,000 acres of farmland in Arizona [are] owned by Chinese interests,” Grand Canyon Times reported in February 2024, citing “a review of data from the US Department of Agriculture.” The paper added, “That Chinese-owned land is concentrated in Maricopa and Pinal Counties.” Luke Air Force Base is in Maricopa County.
One of Hobbs’ first official acts as governor upon assuming office in January 2023 was to formally welcome a Chinese solar company chaired by a 40-year-veteran CCP member to Arizona. JA Solar “has leased a plot of land in Phoenix, Arizona, to construct a $60 million solar panel factory that is poised to benefit from huge green energy tax incentives included in [President Joe Biden’s] Inflation Reduction Act,” The Daily Caller reported at the time.
Hobbs’ “shocking” veto of the land-buy-ban bill isn’t so surprising when you understand how diligently China has worked over the years to solidify a position of strength in Arizona – and how wildly successful an endeavor it has been.
