Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) and 50 other Republicans on Tuesday sent a letter to the Secretaries of Defense, Treasury, and Agriculture asking them to address a Chinese company’s purchase of farmland near an Air Force base in North Dakota where sensitive national security activities are conducted.

A Chinese company, Fufeng Group, has purchased land purportedly for a wet corn milling plant near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota for $700 million, raising questions about the potential of Chinese espionage.

The purchase is currently under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), with any work being done on the project halted until the review is complete.

Fufeng makes a range of products for various industries and is a leading producer of xanthan gum, according to the Associated Press. The Grand Forks site would be its first U.S.-based manufacturing facility, according to the AP.

While the purchase would mean a huge investment in the city, Republican lawmakers are concerned due to the company’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the farmland’s proximity to the Air Force base, which they note is important for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

They wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Treasury Secretary Jessica Yellin, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack:

The recent acquisition of property north of Grand Forks, North Dakota, by the Fufeng Group, a Chinese-based manufacturer with close links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is an alarming development for our national security. According to the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the Grand Forks Air Force Base has exceptional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, making the recently purchased land the ideal location to closely monitor and intercept military activity. The presence of a CCP-affiliated corporation near a military installation potentially undermines the integrity of our high-capability military bases, jeopardizing our strategic interests.

…

Acquisitions of this magnitude pose a threat not only to our national security but also to our food security. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), at the beginning of 2021 foreign investors held a stake in approximately 37.6 million acres of U.S. agricultural land. This trend is expected to increase over the next few years, raising concerns about the negative potential implications it will have on domestic food production and national food security.

Among other questions, they asked the Department of Defense how it is addressing potential national security risks and vulnerabilities of the farmland purchase and future ones by CCP-affiliated entities so close to a sensitive military base.

Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy organization, has endorsed the Republicans’ letter.

“The threat from the Chinese Communist Party is the most critical and consequential international threat that the U.S. faces, and CCP acquisition of land, particularly near U.S. military installations, is an immediate risk to America’s national security,” said Heritage Action’s Vice President Garrett Bess said in a statement.

“Eliminating this risk requires an aggressive plan to prevent and punish malicious land use that threatens U.S. interests. We applaud Representative Gimenez for asking the Biden administration tough questions and pushing them to adopt a more aggressive posture against the CCP,” he said.

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