U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) argues there’s a good reason for lawmakers to make sure the Chinese government never owns any land anywhere near a U.S. military base.
“If you look at the record of the Chinese Communist Party [and] their recent purchases over the course of the last decade, we [have an] overreliance on the Chinese Communist Party for things like pharmaceutical supply chain, food supply chain… [and] critical minerals,” Cramer said in a press release. “[China] steal[s] everything they can get their hands on. They steal our technology in lots of forms. In fact, they provide a lot of the technology to us that they then use to steal from us. As we have learned from 5G—Huawei [is] the most obvious example. [Why would we] give them access to critical supply chains like agriculture, and that’s before we even begin [to talk] about the sensitivities to Grand Forks Air Force Base?”
A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Cramer, who was first elected in 2018 after serving as the state’s at-large representative for three terms, recently joined Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax to discuss the Fufeng Group’s purchase of farmland in Grand Forks and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Agweek reports Fufeng group is a Chinese agribusiness with a history of odor and air pollution violations in China, with China's Institute of Environment and Public Affairs adding the company has had roughly 30 environmental violations from their plants in the last decade. In addition, the Grand Forks Herald notes a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, where it highlights the concern of the Fufeng plants future location to be in too close of a proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base.
“Both Sen. Hoeven, my North Dakota colleague who’s importantly a defense appropriator, and myself—on the Senate Armed Services Committee—we both believe strongly that Grand Forks should reject this opportunity and look somewhere else,” Cramer said. “We’re more than happy to help them find a better tenant for that land than Fufeng and the Chinese Communist Party.”
As it is, an American First Policy Institute fact sheet shows North Dakota is one of just 14 states that have already enacted laws effectively banning the CCP from owning agricultural land, and another three have introduced legislation. This fact sheet also noted a USDA report showing that in 2010, Chinese investors held 13,720 acres, whereas in 2020 they owned 352,140 acres; this is an average yearly increase of more than 33,000 acres per year.
“Sen. [Tom] Cotton asked Air Force Chief of Staff the Air Force General Brown on the record if he had any concerns with Fufeng,” Cramer said, adding that Brown said he'd rather discuss in a "classified setting." "That answer alone is a concern. We’ve heard from people within the industry as well as from within the Air Force and other agencies that they are concerned about the proximity of this facility [to Grand Forks Air Force Base]. But remember, this is a local decision along with the state. I would like to help them find a better partner than the Chinese Communist Party.”
