A trio of US senators are requesting a security review of a farmland purchase by a Chinese agribusiness whose founder has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), raising concerns about the property’s proximity to a military installation. American.
Senators Marco Rubio (R-Texas), John Hoeven (RN.D.), and Kevin Cramer (RN.D.) are petitioning the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency group that scrutinizes foreign investment over security risks: To review Fufeng’s purchase of 370 acres of farmland 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base for possible “national security implications.”
“This property is located approximately 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, raising concerns that Fufeng operations could provide cover for PRC surveillance or interfere with missions located on that property. facility, given Fufeng Group’s reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” the senators wrote in a July 14 letter Addressed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, referring to the acronym for the official name of the Chinese regime, the People’s Republic of China.
“The investments of the People’s Republic of China in the United States demand scrutiny. Therefore, we urge you, through CFIUS, to determine whether this project has national security implications and inform us when such review is complete,” the senators wrote.
Fufeng is a manufacturer of biofermented corn products, which are used in end products ranging from animal feed to pharmaceuticals. A Hong Kong-listed company, the group has multiple subsidiaries around the world, but most of its production facilities are in northeast China.
Fufeng President Li Xuechun was a provincial-level representative in China’s rubber stamp legislative system, the People’s Congress, in 2008 Y 2013 in the northeastern province of Shandong, and a member of the CCP since 1985, according to Chinese media reports.
li was award winning the “model worker” award and an “outstanding” award for entrepreneurs given by the Shandong provincial authorities in 2003. According to For geopolitical analyst Ross Kennedy, the awards revealed that Li embodied “the synthesis of the economic and political goals of the Shandong region and the CCP.”
Considering Fufeng’s connections to an adversary regime and the sensitive nature of the US military installation, Cramer says the location of the corn mill is too close for comfort.
“There’s a very specific concern that a lot of people are focused on, and that is that it’s pretty close to Grand Forks Air Force Base. Grand Forks Air Force Base is a very important IRS mission,” said the legislator representing North Dakota in a interview with NTD, an affiliate of The Epoch Times, referring to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities at the base.
In addition, Cramer noted that the Chinese regime is “very strategic” with regard to foreign asset acquisitions, demonstrating a “willingness to use economic incentives to gain access to very important assets, whether it is a port in sri lanka either an airport in Uganda.”
“China has been a predatory investor for a long time,” Cramer said.
Across the aisle, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) agrees with his fellow Republicans.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has been sounding the alarm about the counterintelligence threat posed by the PRC,” Warner said. CNBC. “We should be seriously concerned about Chinese investment in places near sensitive sites, like military bases in the US.”
according to a may report by the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an influential congressional advisory body, the air force installation “houses some of the United States’ premier intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.”
With the corn mill located 12 miles from the military base, the Commission found its location “particularly convenient for monitoring air traffic flows in and out of the base, among other security-related concerns.”
A representative from Fufeng USA, the Fufeng Group subsidiary that has led the development and interface with the city of Grand Fork, dismissed such safety concerns.
“I know we are not going to be asked to collect intelligence on Grand Forks Air Force Base,” Eric Chutorash, CCO of Fufeng USA, saying local media in March. “I can’t emphasize it more than that. Personally, I wouldn’t provide it. I don’t think the team that is being formed there will provide it.”
Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski has touted the economic benefits of the project while maintaining that the city has been working with authorities on direction.
“We have been in contact with our Governor, ND [North Dakota] state agencies, US senators and US House representatives regarding the project”, Bochenski saying The Epoch Times in an email.
“We see economic benefits from a new wet corn milling plant in the region. We are doing as much diligence as possible and are seeking the appropriate federal agencies for national security information and direction.”
The Pentagon declined to comment and Treasury did not respond to a query from The Epoch Times.