Close to the banks of Montana’s Musselshell River, cattle rancher Michael Miller noticed a big, white orb above the city of Harlowton final week, a day earlier than U.S. officers revealed they have been monitoring a suspected Chinese language spy balloon over the state. The balloon precipitated a stir within the 900-person city surrounded by cattle ranches, wind farms and scattered nuclear missile silos behind chain hyperlink fences.
Miller worries about China as a rising menace to the U.S., however questioned how a lot intelligence could possibly be gained from a balloon. China’s greater menace, he mentioned, is to the U.S. economic system. Like many all through the nation, Miller wonders if stricter legal guidelines are wanted to bar farmland gross sales to international nationals so energy over agriculture and the meals provide doesn’t find yourself within the incorrect arms.
“It’s greatest to not have a international entity shopping for up land, particularly one which’s probably not pleasant to us,” Miller mentioned. “They’re simply going to take us over economically, as a substitute of military-wise.”
Miller’s issues are more and more shared by U.S. lawmakers after the Chinese language balloon’s voyage over American skies infected tensions between Washington and Beijing.
In Congress and statehouses, the balloon’s journey added traction to decades-old issues about international land possession. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, is sponsoring laws to incorporate agriculture as a think about nationwide safety choices permitting international actual property investments.
“The underside line is we don’t need of us from China proudly owning our farmland. It goes towards meals safety and it goes towards nationwide safety,” Tester instructed The Related Press.
No less than 11 state legislatures are also contemplating measures to handle the priority. That features Montana and North Dakota, the place the U.S. Air Drive not too long ago warned {that a} $700 million corn mill proposed close to a army base by the American subsidiary of a Chinese language firm would danger nationwide safety.
Metropolis council members in Grand Forks, North Dakota, endured a barrage of criticism from city residents Monday evening earlier than voting 5-0 to desert the plan. The transfer got here a yr after North Dakota’s governor known as the venture “extraordinary,” saying it might convey jobs and bolster the farm trade.
Enraged residents of the 59,000-person metropolis close to the Minnesota border demanded resignations from council members they claimed had tried to push by means of the plan, disregarding Chinese language threats to nationwide safety.
“You determined, for no matter motive, this was such a implausible factor for our metropolis that you just obtained blinders on,” mentioned Dexter Perkins, a College of North Dakota geology professor. “You guys went all in when there have been a gazillion unanswered questions.”
Earlier than the Air Drive’s warning, officers mentioned they weren’t ready to opine on nationwide safety issues.
International entities and people management lower than 3% of U.S. farmland, in response to the U.S. Division of Agriculture. Of that, these with ties to China management lower than 1%, or roughly 600 sq. miles (340 sq. kilometers).
But in recent times, transactions of agricultural and non-agricultural land have attracted scrutiny, notably in states with a big U.S. army presence.
Limitations on international people or entities proudly owning farmland differ broadly all through the U.S. Most states permit it, whereas 14 have restrictions. No states have a complete prohibition. Of the 5 states the place the federal agriculture division says entities with ties to China personal probably the most farmland, 4 don’t restrict international possession: North Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Utah.
The fifth, Missouri, has a cap on international land possession that state lawmakers need to make extra stringent.
Possession restriction supporters typically speculate about international consumers’ motives and whether or not folks with ties to adversaries corresponding to China intend to make use of land for spying or exerting management over the U.S. meals provide.
Texas in 2021 banned infrastructure offers with people tied to hostile governments, together with China. The coverage got here after a Chinese language military veteran and actual property tycoon bought a wind farm in a border city close to a U.S. Air Drive base. This yr, Texas Republicans need to broaden that with a ban towards land purchases by people and entities from hostile international locations together with China.
Critics see it as anti-foreigner hysteria, with Texas’ Asian American neighborhood notably involved in regards to the impact on immigrants who need to purchase properties and construct companies.
In Utah, concern has centered on a Chinese language firm’s buy of a speedway close to a military depot in 2015 and Chinese language-owned farms exporting alfalfa and hay from drought-stricken components of the state.
Lawmakers this yr are contemplating two proposals that will, to various levels, ban entities with ties to international governments from proudly owning land.
“Do we actually need any international nation coming in and shopping for our agricultural land, our forests or our mineral rights?” requested Republican state Rep. Kay Christofferson, who’s sponsoring one of many payments. “If it might intrude with our sovereignty — particularly in an emergency scenario or throughout a menace to nationwide safety — I believe that we’d lose our capacity as a state to be unbiased and autonomous.”
Caitlin Welsh, director of the International Meals Safety Program on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, mentioned the scramble to restrict international land possession tracked rising U.S.-China tensions. Welsh shares issues about U.S. adversaries buying land close to army bases like in Grand Forks, however mentioned worries about China controlling the meals provide have been overblown.
“China is only a small slice of the larger image of international possession,” Welsh mentioned. “In relation to meals safety, the largest menace is that international homeowners can probably pay a better worth for agricultural land, which then drives up costs.”
The restrictions have encountered resistance in states with sturdy property rights. In Wyoming, two proposals to limit international land possession failed this week despite the fact that Republicans who management the statehouse have been sympathetic to issues about China increasing its attain.
“We’ve had plenty of issues with China recently within the air. Large balloons flying over us. We have a look at this as a nationwide and state safety invoice, for Wyoming and america,” mentioned Rep. Invoice Allemand, a Republican from Casper.
Lawmakers on Monday rejected Allemand’s proposal to ban possession of greater than an acre of land by folks from international locations thought of state sponsors of terrorism, together with Russia and China. Skeptics mentioned it might be troublesome to police as a result of advanced net of title firms and holding companies in agricultural actual property.
“That is very simple to get round,” Republican Rep. Martha Lawley mentioned. “We could finish the day feeling good about ourselves, however we’ve opened as much as plenty of legal responsibility.”
Questions on international funding are more and more prompting debate over whether or not cities and states must be rolling out welcome mats or shutting doorways to potential threats. The problem can pit native officers thinking about financial growth towards state and federal businesses involved with nationwide safety.
That was initially the case with the proposed corn mill in Grand Forks, the place officers final yr lauded the plans. However days after the U.S. Air Drive shot down the Chinese language balloon, which China insists was solely a climate balloon, the sentiment had fizzled and town modified course.
“There’s one thing that I’ve discovered by means of this course of, and that’s typically to decelerate and ensure we totally perceive earlier than we transfer to the following degree,” Grand Forks council member Ken Vein mentioned earlier than voting to desert the corn mill.
