A trio of U.S. Senators is requesting a security review of a farmland purchase by a Chinese agribusiness whose founder has links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), raising concerns about the property’s proximity to a U.S. military installation.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Texas), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) are asking the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)—an interagency group that screens foreign investments for security risks—to review Fufeng’s purchase of 370 acres of farmland 12 miles away from the Grand Forks Air Force Base for potential “national security implications.”
“This property is approximately 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which has led to concern that Fufeng operations could provide cover for PRC surveillance or interference with the missions located at that installation, given Fufeng Group’s reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” the senators wrote in a July 14 letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, referring to the acronym for the official name of the Chinese regime, the People’s Republic of China. …