By MATTHEW BROWN and SAM METZ (Associated Press)
HARLOWTON, Mont. (AP) — Near 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 spy balloon over the state. The balloon brought about 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 larger menace, he stated, 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 palms.
“It’s best not to have a foreign entity buying up land, especially one that’s not really friendly to us,” Miller stated. “They are just going to take us over economically, instead of military-wise.”
Miller’s issues are more and more shared by U.S. lawmakers after the Chinese 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 bottom line is we don’t want folks from China owning our farmland. It goes against food security and it goes against national security,” Tester informed The Associated Press.
At least 11 state legislatures are also contemplating measures to deal with the priority. That contains Montana and North Dakota, the place the U.S. Air Force just lately warned {that a} $700 million corn mill proposed close to a navy base by the American subsidiary of a Chinese firm would danger nationwide safety.
City 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 referred to as the challenge “extraordinary,” saying it might carry 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 the plan, dismissing Chinese threats to nationwide safety.
“You decided, for whatever reason, this was such a fantastic thing for our city that you got blinders on,” stated Dexter Perkins, a University of North Dakota geology professor. “You guys went all in when there were a gazillion unanswered questions.”
Before the Air Force’s warning, officers stated they weren’t ready to opine on nationwide safety issues.
Foreign entities and people management lower than 3% of U.S. farmland, in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of that, these with ties to China management lower than 1%, or roughly 600 sq. miles (340 sq. kilometers).
Yet in recent times, transactions of agricultural and non-agricultural land have attracted scrutiny, significantly in states with a big U.S. navy presence.
Limitations on international people or entities proudly owning farmland differ extensively all through the U.S. Most states enable 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 essentially 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 wish to make extra stringent.
Ownership restriction supporters usually 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 military veteran and actual property tycoon bought a wind farm in a border city close to a U.S. Air Force base. This yr, Texas Republicans wish to broaden that with a ban in opposition to land purchases by people and entities from hostile international locations together with China.
Critics see it as anti-foreigner hysteria, with Texas’ Asian American group significantly involved concerning the impact on immigrants who wish to purchase properties and construct companies.
In Utah, concern has centered on a Chinese firm’s buy of a speedway close to a military depot in 2015 and Chinese-owned farms exporting alfalfa and hay from drought-stricken elements 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 really want any foreign country coming in and buying our agricultural land, our forests or our mineral rights?” requested Republican state Rep. Kay Christofferson, who’s sponsoring one of many payments. “If it would interfere with our sovereignty — especially in an emergency situation or during a threat to national security — I think that we’d lose our ability as a state to be independent and self sufficient.”
Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food Security Program on the Center for Strategic and International Studies, stated the scramble to restrict international land possession tracked rising U.S.-China tensions. Welsh shares issues about U.S. adversaries buying land close to navy bases like in Grand Forks, however stated worries about China controlling the meals provide have been overblown.
“China is just a small slice of the bigger picture of foreign ownership,” Welsh stated. “When it comes to food security, the biggest threat is that foreign owners can potentially pay a higher price for agricultural land, which then drives up prices.”
The restrictions have encountered resistance in states with sturdy property rights. In Wyoming, two proposals to limit international land possession failed this week regardless that Republicans who management the statehouse have been sympathetic to issues about China increasing its attain.
“We’ve had a lot of problems with China lately in the air. Big balloons flying over us. We look at this as a national and state security bill, for Wyoming and the United States,” stated Rep. Bill 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 stated it might be tough to police because of the advanced net of title firms and holding companies in agricultural actual property.
“This is very easy to get around,” Republican Rep. Martha Lawley stated. “We may end the day feeling good about ourselves, but we’ve opened up to a lot of liability.”
Questions about 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 fascinated about financial growth in opposition to 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. But days after the U.S. Air Force shot down the Chinese balloon, which China insists was solely a climate balloon, the sentiment had fizzled and the town modified course.
“There’s something that I’ve learned through this process, and that is sometimes to slow down and make sure we fully understand before we move to the next level,” Grand Forks council member Ken Vein stated earlier than voting to desert the corn mill.
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Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and AP reporters all through the U.S. contributed reporting.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
