Steve Yates, chair of the China Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), and Adam Savit, director of AFPIs' China Policy Initiative, wrote in a Washington Times opinion piece that Chinese President Xi Jinping grabbing a third term means China will likely stay on its current course.
“As abhorrent as China’s internal power dynamics and system of governance are to democratic sensibilities, it is the vibrancy of U.S. institutions that will determine the future of this rivalry and ultimately ensure our success. Mr. Xi’s brand of aggressive expansionist authoritarianism is here to stay and does not seek peaceful coexistence with the free world...” Yates and Savit said in the opinion piece.
The China analysts called for the U.S. to ban Chinese entities from purchasing American agricultural land and crack down on Confucius Institutes, according to the article.
Jinping was selected to a third term as party secretary during China’s 20th National Party Congress and packed the Politburo Standing Committee with loyalists, the Atlantic Council reported. Xi confirmed his commitment to continuing a strict zero-COVID-19 strategy, emphasized focus on “security,” and highlighted a desire for “reunification” with Taiwan.
Yates and Savit wrote that many are expecting Xi to be a “leader for life,” which will mean a continuation of aggression abroad. They called for banning members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from purchasing U.S. farmland, as “dominating world food supply chains is an integral part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”
The experts argued that states, including Florida and California, have made progress, but federal action should be taken. They called for a crackdown on organizations like Confucius Institutes that spread China’s malign influence in American educational institutions.
Federal bills have been introduced to restrict foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land, but none of those bills has gained traction, USDA Newswire reported last month.
Amendments and bills by lawmakers including Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) seek to prohibit companies owned in part or in full by China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran from buying agricultural land or any other real estate in the U.S. as “a matter of national security.”
A 2018 U.S. Agriculture Department Economic Research Service report found China’s U.S. agricultural sector investment increased 10 times in the past 10 years. The measures remain in committees.
Chinese investors account for 1% of the foreign-owned agricultural land in the U.S. Analysts and lawmakers worry that China will use any means to increase its holdings to feed its citizens, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Chinese government funds Confucius Institutes to promote Chinese language and cultural education in public schools, the Austin Journal reported. Critics say these institutes enable the Chinese government to infiltrate and influence the U.S. education system.
A National Association of Scholars report lists more than a dozen active Confucius Institutes at schools in the U.S., including Stanford University and West Virginia University. Some have been replaced with similar programs and others maintain close ties with former Confucius Institute partners.
The Heritage Foundation called Confucius Institutes a critical component of China's “soft war” strategy against the U.S., utilized to spread favorable impressions of China.
