There is still much we don’t know about the surveillance balloon China flew over the United States last week, but it is safe to conclude that it was not, as Beijing claims, a civilian craft conducting climate research. This was a deliberate violation of American sovereignty for military ends. It signals a turn in Chinese Communist Party behavior toward risk and aggression, and we must signal to China that its new line of behavior is unacceptable.
A good first step to deterring China’s aggression would be
to ban all ownership of land in the U.S. by China and entities controlled by
the CCP. Beijing cannot be trusted near America's food supply infrastructure,
nor should it be given opportunities to expand its espionage within
our borders.
Foreigners own 40.8 million acres of American farmland, an
area larger than the state of New York. China only owns 1% of this, but its
acreage has grown dramatically in the past decade, from 14,000 acres in 2010 to
over 350,000 acres today. The CCP-controlled WH Group also owns Smithfield
Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, with over 500 farms and 9,000
employees in the U.S.
The CCP-controlled Fufeng Group tried last week to buy a
$700 million corn mill near Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fortunately, the town
mayor nixed the project after an Air Force official
expressed concern that it would be a threat to the nearby Grand Forks Air Force
Base. But military base commanders shouldn’t have to write letters to mayors
each time they feel threatened by a Chinese land purchase. Official Chinese
bodies or their arms-length subordinates simply shouldn’t be allowed to buy
land anywhere in America.
Six states, including Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi,
North Dakota, and Oklahoma, already ban foreign ownership of farmland. That
goes too far. Canada, the Netherlands, and Italy are the largest foreign owners
of farmland, and none of them threaten food security, just as none of them seem
likely to spy on the U.S.
military .
The CCP, however, has a proven record of undermining our
national security. Congress should pass legislation, like that introduced by
Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), that would ban China, and
only China, from buying any land in the U.S.
China is not only our biggest national security threat, but
as the balloon incident shows, it wishes to undermine America and take big
risks in doing so. Congress must let China know that this must change.
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