As WeLoveTrump previously reported, a Chinese company 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.
Fufeng Group, a Shandong, China-based company that specializes in flavor enhancers and sugar substitutes, recently purchased the North Dakota farmland.
The farmland is just a 20-minute drive from the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
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 purchase also raised suspicions amongst military officers and national security experts.
Fufeng Group's acquisition adds to nearly 200,000 acres of US agricultural land worth $1.9 billion purchased by firms linked to the communist country.
"Fears about the company's proximity to the air base comes as lawmakers have pushed for legislation preventing the communist nation from buying US land," the Daily Mail reports.
"Air Force Major Jeremy Fox wrote a memo in April characterizing the move as emblematic of Chinese efforts to infiltrate sensitive US defense installations."
A recent FBI investigation revealed that China placed Huawei equipment atop cell towers on purchased farmland near US military bases in the Midwest capable of disrupting service and capturing signals.
The move could give China unprecedented access to the goings-on at the Air Force base, which also has a space-networking center that's been characterized as 'the backbone of all US military communications across the globe,' according to CNBC.
The Daily Mail reported:
Criticism of the Fufeng purchase comes as American lawmakers have been outspoken about limiting China's ownership of valuable American agricultural land, which, as of 2019, consisted of at least 192,000 acres.
After the Fufeng Group purchased the North Dakota land for $2.6 million this year, Air Force Major Jeremy Fox wrote a memo in April characterizing the move as being emblematic of Chinese efforts to install themselves close to sensitive US defense installations.
He argued that the Fufeng property is located at just the right location for the company to intercept communications coming from the Air Force base.
'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,' Fox wrote.
Such interceptions 'would present a costly national security risk causing grave damage to United States' strategic advantages.'
'Passive collection of those signals would be undetectable, as the requirements to do so would merely require ordinary antennas tuned to the right collecting frequencies,' he said, 'This introduces a grave vulnerability to our Department of Defense installations and is incredibly compromising to US National Security.'
A spokesperson for the Air Force maintained Fox's memo was not the military's official position on the matter.
They instead called it Fox's 'personal assessment of potential vulnerabilities' and declined to offer an opinion.
The report noted comments from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis about Chinese companies being allowed to purchase US farmland.
Gov. DeSantis told Fox News' Laura Ingraham he didn't think Chinese companies should be allowed to purchase US land at the rate they have.
"I don't think they should be able to do it. I think the problem is these companies have ties to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], and it's not always apparent on the face of whatever a company is doing - but I think it's a huge problem," DeSantis said.
Read the remainder of the Daily Mail report HERE.
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