Who remembers President Trump’s warning about Huawei years ago?
As CNBC reported in 2019, the Trump Administration added Huawei Technologies to a trade blacklist.
The Trump administration on Thursday added Huawei Technologies to a trade blacklist, immediately enacting restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the company to do business with U.S. counterparts.
On Friday the U.S. Commerce Department said it was considering scaling back restrictions on Huawei to “prevent the interruption of existing network operations and equipment.” It was not immediately clear on Sunday whether Huawei’s access to mobile software would be affected.
The extent to which Huawei will be hurt by the U.S. government’s blacklist is not yet known as its global supply chain assesses the impact. Chip experts have questioned Huawei’s ability to continue to operate without U.S. help.
There are already 35 companies that the Pentagon, under the orders of President Donald Trump, has added to its blacklist this 2020, including Huawei, Hikvision or China Telecom. https://t.co/B0uWxZZ6Zt
— VOZ (@Voz_US) December 6, 2020
Recall that a Chinese company recently paid $2.6 million for 300 acres of farmland in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Why Did North Dakota Allow a Chinese Firm to Purchase Farmland Near a US Air Force Drone Base?
The parcel of land’s location near a US Air Force base that houses sensitive drone technology has lawmakers on Capitol Hill worried about potential espionage by Beijing, according to a report.
Chinese firm bought North Dakota farm near US Air Force drone base: report https://t.co/npLzKSjNHD pic.twitter.com/lUkAF7IETl
— New York Post (@nypost) July 1, 2022
The farmland purchased by the Chinese firm Fufeng Group is just a 20-minute drive to the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
The Fufeng Group also purchased a corn mill near Grand Forks.
Local residents expressed their concern about this project right in their backyard.
Per Grand Forks Herald:
If there’s one sticking point for skeptics of Fufeng Group’s plans in Grand Forks — one big concern that stands above the rest — it’s the company’s ties to China.
There are others, of course. Ever since Fufeng’s plans for a massive new north-end corn-milling plant was announced, neighbors have worried about the traffic or the smell. Others have fretted about carbon emissions or the water supply.
But the loudest and most consistent voices have often returned to the same fear: that there’s an unseen risk to doing business with China.
The match that lit that debate was struck on Jan 10, when consultant Ross Kennedy published a new post on his “Fortis Analysis” blog, raising a 1,500-word alarm about the deal with Fufeng Group.
Kennedy’s post spun a concerning story about the company. Not only would the company’s tax breaks and expensive infrastructure make for a financial boondoggle, he argued, but the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party, its apparent operation near a Chinese forced labor camp and the new Grand Forks plant’s proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base all made for a profound threat.
However, it gets worse and more disturbing.
"The FBI and local police visited a top opponent to the corn mill project and threatened her for speaking out about the local purchases by the Chinese Communist regime," The Gateway Pundit noted.
Are these land purchases tied to Huawei?
A CNN report revealed China placed Huawei equipment atop cell towers on purchased farmland near US military bases in the Midwest capable of disrupting service and capturing signals.
Per CNN:
Since at least 2017, federal officials have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, shut down a high-profile regional consulate believed by the US government to be a hotbed of Chinese spies and stonewalled what they saw as clear efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive military and government facilities.
Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons.
While broad concerns about Huawei equipment near US military installations have been well known, the existence of this investigation and its findings have never been reported. Its origins stretch back to at least the Obama administration. It was described to CNN by more than a dozen sources, including current and former national security officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
F.E. Warren Air Force Base, a strategic missile base, is located in Cheyenne, Wyoming, an area near a host of cell towers using Huawei equipment. - From F.E. Warren Air Force Base/Facebook
It’s unclear if the intelligence community determined whether any data was actually intercepted and sent back to Beijing from these towers. Sources familiar with the issue say that from a technical standpoint, it’s incredibly difficult to prove a given package of data was stolen and sent overseas.
The Chinese government strongly denies any efforts to spy on the US. Huawei in a statement to CNN also denied that its equipment is capable of operating in any communications spectrum allocated to the Defense Department.
But multiple sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN that there’s no question the Huawei equipment has the ability to intercept not only commercial cell traffic but also the highly restricted airwaves used by the military and disrupt critical US Strategic Command communications, giving the Chinese government a potential window into America’s nuclear arsenal.
“This gets into some of the most sensitive things we do,” said one former FBI official with knowledge of the investigation. “It would impact our ability for essentially command and control with the nuclear triad. “That goes into the ‘BFD’ category.”
“If it is possible for that to be disrupted, then that is a very bad day,” this person added.
Yet, a Chinese company is allowed to purchase farmland just up the road from a military base that houses sensitive drone technology?
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