While tensions were escalating between the US and China over the Chinese surveillance balloon, the US Air Force was trying to shoot down China’s plans for a corn mill in North Dakota, saying that the project ‘presents a significant threat to national security.
In a letter, Assistant Air Force Secretary Andrew Hunter wrote that the proposed corn mill raised ‘near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area.’The subject of the letter is the plan by Fufeng USA to build a giant milling facility on the border of Grand Forks, North Dakota – about 12 miles from the Air Force Base.At the outset of debate around the factory, some residents objected to establishing closer economic ties with China, others argued it could easily be used as a spying facility for the hostile Chinese government.The city of about 60,000’s mayor, Brandon Bochenski, who previously supported the project, said Tuesday he would move to block construction by attempting to deny a number of building permits.
Grand Forks, North Dakota officials agreed unanimously and struck down all plans to proceed with the project, especially after the firm’s deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party were revealed.
The 5-0 unanimous vote Monday night from the Grand Forks City Council surrounding the Fufeng Group project was met with cheers and chants of “USA!” from the public in attendance.Prior to the meeting, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski, during an interview on “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” told Fox News that the city had options to “basically deny infrastructure and deny building permits.”So they have the land, but they have no ability to build anything on it,” he added.The Chinese-owned Fufeng Group, which describes itself as an “internationalized bio-fermentation products manufacturer,” paid $2.3 million to purchase the 300 acres of land just 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, home to top secret drone technology. The company was planning to invest $700 million to open the mill.But local officials and federal authorities had warned that Fufeng has deep ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Currently, China has over 300,000 acres of agricultural land in this country.
Chinese holdings of U.S. agricultural land have increased significantly in recent years, and nearly half of the Chinese-held acres of agricultural land at the end of 2020 were in Texas, according to a U.S. Agriculture Department database obtained by The Wall Street Journal under a Freedom of Information Act request.Overall, the data shows that Chinese investors—individuals, foreign entities or U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders—held more than 338,000 acres at the end of 2020, according to the USDA data, excluding nonagricultural land.That is up from more than 75,000 acres at the end of 2010.Still, China owns slightly less than 1% of all U.S. farmland held by foreigners, who in total owned around 3% of all privately held agricultural land at the end of 2021, according to the USDA.
However, given the balloon incident and the increasing tensions between China and the US, I suspect many towns will be taking the approach Grand Forks did.
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