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We must stop the Chinese communist party invasion

The Highland County Press - Staff Photo - Create Article

By Frank LaRose
Ohio Secretary of State

 
As we face an invasion on our southern border, there is an invasion nearly as threatening happening in our own backyards.
 
Our world is more dangerous thanks to weak leadership from President Joe Biden and Senator Sherrod Brown. While those two play geopolitical checkers, China is playing a sophisticated game of chess, waging an asymmetric economic war to sow chaos and gain power over America and our allies abroad.
 
In addition to their Belt & Road Initiative to create subservient debtor nations around the globe and guarantee near monopolistic access to critical resources, Chinese interests have been financing or directly purchasing land, real estate, and strategic infrastructure all over the world and right here in America for more than a decade.
 
Direct investment by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the U.S. economy, as well as purchases of strategically located properties are major threats to our national security. We should take smart and effective actions to stop CCP-related entities from ever controlling strategically valuable domestic assets but do so in a way that does not harm peaceful and productive foreign investment from allies already underway.
 
The $7 billion purchase in 2013 of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, America’s largest pork producer, by Chinese investors ignited interest in Chinese acquisitions of land, real estate, and businesses that has yet to subside.
 
Actions to legislatively block these purchases escalated after the Chinese spy balloon incident in February of 2023, and before that, a revelation that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had no jurisdiction over a $700 million proposed acquisition of a 370-acre corn-milling operation in North Dakota by Chinese investor Fufeng Group. The site is less than 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base.
 
Here in Ohio, this threat is all too real. Agriculture is Ohio’s number one industry and China is patiently and strategically working to seize control through land purchases of family farms.
 
As Secretary of State, I’m working with the Ohio Legislature to enact strong safeguards to protect our land from a growing threat posed by China. A recent report shows ownership of U.S. agricultural land by the Chinese Communist Party and its state-controlled affiliates saw a 25-fold increase in a decade. This trend poses a serious threat to our homeland.
 
More needs to be done in Washington to curb this threat.
 
Numerous bills have been introduced in the Senate and the House to stop the CCP’s pernicious threat, and amendments garnering overwhelming bipartisan support to block these land purchases have been made to several bills.
 
The PASS Act is a first step that would amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to include the Secretary of Agriculture on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and require a review of agricultural transactions. Beyond that, legislation like the Stop CCP Land Act, Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act, and Securing America’s Land from Foreign Interference Act each would prohibit the purchase of public or private agricultural (including ranching) real estate located in the United States by entities associated with the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
 
Transactions benefitting the Chinese Communist Party are a threat we cannot ignore. Biden and Brown have failed us and have not forcefully defended America from invasion or taken needed actions to protect our strategic interests.
 
In the United States Senate, I will work to combat the CCP’s growing influence, protect Ohio farmers, and help America reestablish our national security.
 
Frank LaRose is Ohio's Secretary of State and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

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