Adam Savit, director of the China Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), told Federal Newswire that previously introduced bills that would prohibit entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from purchasing American agricultural land have really been aiming to prevent the CCP from owning land near military bases and other critical infrastructure. He emphasized that the importance of barring the CCP from owning land near these sites is to prevent the collection of sensitive information that could weaken U.S. national security.
"A more targeted bill aiming at land bans related to critical infrastructure and military bases could be more successful than bills targeting agricultural land, because when the focus has been on agricultural land rhetorically and in the bills, it kind of lost the focus, because the real concern was the sensitive sites, so the farmland was a means to the sensitive sites," said Savit. "To understand the importance of keeping the CCP away from our sensitive sites, think about the Chinese spy balloon, which was a terrible violation of our airspace, and we now know had sensitive surveillance equipment on it, and it was floating for days on end over our land from Alaska to the Atlantic Ocean, where it was finally shot down. If China owns land near these sensitive sites, you can think of it like a permanent spy balloon - you can put all kinds of surveillance installations and agents there to watch movements of troops and equipment. It's a direct threat, and the CCP will use any sort of gap that we leave open, and this is one gap that we need to close."
According to a post on LinkedIn, Savit was invited to speak at the Kansas State Capitol by Majority Leader Chris Croft. During his speech, he underscored the need to prevent the CCP from engaging in "surveillance and sabotage" near U.S. military bases and critical infrastructure. "Legislation has been introduced in many states to restrict CCP land ownership in close proximity to these sensitive sites," said Savit.
On February 8, Kansas state lawmakers introduced HB 2766, also known as the Kansas Land and Military Installation Act. According to a copy of this bill, it would prohibit "foreign principals from countries of concern" from acquiring real property within 150 miles of any military installations. The bill lists China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela as "countries of concern".
In a fact sheet authored by Savit in February, he warned that foreign adversaries could exploit land near U.S. military bases for espionage purposes such as intercepting military communications. He referenced U.S. Air Force Major Jeremy Fox's statement that such espionage poses "a costly national security risk causing grave damage to United States’ strategic advantages." Furthermore, Savit pointed out a 2021 report from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center which stressed: "it is imperative that critical infrastructure entities prioritize and dedicate resources to preempt and/or mitigate insider threats."
National security concerns were raised when Fufeng USA announced plans in 2021 to construct a corn milling plant near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. Federal Newswire reported that Fufeng USA is a subsidiary of the Chinese-owned Fufeng Group Ltd. A May 2022 report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission noted security concerns about the proximity of the proposed Fufeng plant to Grand Forks Air Force Base. Major Jeremy Fox also expressed national security concerns, writing "some of the most sensitive elements of Grand Forks exist with the digital uplinks and downlinks inherent with unmanned air systems and their interaction with space-based assets." The headquarters of Fufeng Group are located in China, and its chairman has ties to the CCP.
Before his tenure at AFPI, Savit served as China program coordinator at the Center for Security Policy and president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Washington, D.C., according to AFPI's website. He has held numerous national security research and communications roles throughout his career. Currently, he is also a John Quincy Adams Fellow at the Common Sense Society.
