The South Carolina Senate has passed a bill that would partly ban companies or citizens of China and other so-called foreign adversaries from acquiring real property in the state.
The bill was introduced after a Chinese biomedical company, AnPac, announced its agreement to pay $28 million for 500 acres in McCormick County.
The state’s GOP-controlled Senate approved the measure on March 23 in a 31–5 vote.
The ban would impact citizens and corporations from countries listed as adversarial by the U.S. Department of Commerce, such as China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.
However, the final version of the bill includes an exemption that allows companies already operating in South Carolina as of the end of 2022 to expand with approval from the secretary of commerce and the governor….