As athletes compete in the winter Olympics, it is an appropriate time to again reflect on the question of China.
First, it is unfortunate this treasured event is held in a brutal regime known for its horrible treatment of marginalized groups. In addition to its treatment of its own citizens, I would like to address the continued and increasing threat communist China poses to the United States.
We have already fallen victim to their lack of transparency over the origins of COVID-19, and we know of their rising military power. But two other areas are also worrying: their ownership of American farmland, surveillance of American universities, and threat to our power grid.
In 2013, Missouri passed a law allowing up to 1% of Missouri’s farmland to be owned by foreign interests. This repealed a previous ban on foreign ownership. Since then, China and other countries have grabbed massive tracts of land across the state. Even worse, they may control even more than allowed by law because they are purchasing leases, making those parcels exempt from the ownership limits.
By one estimate, half of Missouri’s hog production is under foreign control. This is very concerning to me, as this practice compromises our national and food security interests. I plan to work on closing these loopholes to protect our vital interests from foreign control.
Another issue of concern is Chinese spying on U.S. universities. The communist regime takes advantage of America’s top universities to support the Chinese military-industrial complex, and it needs to end.
A report from Foundation for Defense of Democracies describes how China-sponsored Confucius Institutes operates at campuses across America facilitate espionage. In particular, research partnerships with 28 universities support China’s intelligence, nuclear weapons and cyberespionage programs.
Confucius Institutes officially just offer Chinese language and cultural programming. But they also give China a presence on campus that enables espionage, including pressure on Chinese students studying here to help the Chinese Communist Party’s objectives, from propaganda to snooping. And they facilitate forming the “research partnerships” that quietly let China steal technology and other intellectual property.
Congress cracked down on the spying by banning universities that host Confucius Institutes from receiving key Defense Department grants and contracts; two-thirds of the institutes across US academia have since closed. But 34 colleges have kept on, so I hope Congress will do even more.
Two years ago, U.S. officials seized a Chinese-built electric transformer they suspected had been secret capabilities that could allow distant adversaries to monitor or even disable it. Officials found electronics that should not have been part of the transformer that could secretly allow the Chinese to gain effective control of the transformers.
Recognizing this threat, the Trump administration issued an executive order declaring a national emergency with respect to the nation’s electric grid and prohibiting the acquisition or installation of “any bulk-power electric equipment designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied, by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of such foreign adversaries.”
The prohibition order stated that the 250-ton Chinese-built transformer had “a military rationale for its disruption capabilities” and was “targeting operational systems that can be undermined as a way to degrade an opponent’s capabilities or to coerce an opponent’s decision-making or political will.”
The order was the correct response to a growing threat. It is unfortunate that President Biden suspended the order, failing to follow President Trump’s strong commitment to protecting our infrastructure from sabotage.
While we must certainly protect against the expanding Chinese military forces, we must not lose sight of the other methods the communists are using to threaten the United States.
May God bless and keep you and our great nation.
Hardy Billington represents District 152, which includes parts of Butler and Dunklin counties.