Over much of the past few days, Americans have watched and wondered what the Chinese were doing in the sky above.
An incident in North Dakota indicates Americans should pay closer attention to what China is doing on the ground,
The U.S. Air Force is raising concerns about a Chinese company’s purchase of 370 acres near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota.
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The Fufeng Group’s acquisition is supposedly for a wet corn milling plant that would sit just 12 from the military installation, which Just The News described as “a key hub of military air and space operations.”
In a letter late last month to North Dakota Republican Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Andrew Hunter responded with the service’s opinion of the deal, as sought by Hoeven.
Hunter suggested the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States dodge its responsibility to closely monitor deals for property and technology that could adversely affect national security.
The committee, Hunter wrote, looked at the proposed acquisition last October and “concluded that it did not have jurisdiction” to do anything about it. Yet, he added, the [Air Force’s] view is unambiguous.”
“The proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area,” Hunter wrote.
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In light of the committee’s hands-off approach, the senators urged city officials in Grand Forks to use their power to stop it.
“As we have recommended, we believe the city should discontinue the Fufeng project, and instead, we should work together to find an American company to develop the agriculture project,” Hoeven and Cramer said in a statement.
The website, Just The News, noted that Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski, a Republican, said he would ask the City Council to use its authority to stop the project directly.
“The response from the Federal Government during this process can only be viewed as slow and contradictory,” Bochenski said.
“The only remedies the City has to [block the Fufeng project are] to refuse to connect industrial infrastructure and deny building permits,” Bochenski added.
“As Mayor of the City of Grand Forks, I am requesting these remedies be undertaken, and the Project be stopped, pending City Council approval.”
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