With the help of recently passed legislation, Utah forced the sale of land owned by a Chinese company last November, the state’s governor said Thursday.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told the press the company’s ownership of the land posed a national security threat because of its proximity to the Tooele Army Depot and the Utah Test and Training Range.
Cox was joined at the press conference by Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason and other state leaders.
The state of Utah led this first forced divestiture not based “necessarily on what they were doing with the property, but what they could do with the property,” Cox said.
This follows a series of other instances where the Chinese Communist Party has bought land next to U.S. military assets. For example, last summer, a CCP owned company, which was tied to the People’s Liberation Army, tried to purchase land near the Provo Airport.
Rep. Pierucci says China ‘is not a neutral economic actor’
In the past several years, Utah’s Legislature has been filling in national security gaps that U.S. Congress has not addressed, Cox said.
Pierucci, who also spoke to the press on Thursday, has sponsored several bills ahead of November’s divestment, that made it possible.
Utah has seen threats from China buying land within the state, “creeping in through subtle partnerships with schools,” and leveraging “technology contracts that come with invisible strings,” Pierucci said. “We have no illusions about the CCP’s intentions, and we refuse to look the other way as a state.”
She continued, “The Chinese Communist Party is not just another foreign investor. It is not a neutral economic actor. It’s a hostile foreign adversary engaged in a long term strategy to undermine the United States economically, technologically and militarily. This isn’t speculation. This is documented reality.”
Proximity to critical minerals and military poses a threat, Cox says
Cox referenced Ukraine and Israel’s advanced military drone tactics in their wars with Russia and Iran. In several instances, the countries sent inconspicuous shipping containers filled with unmanned drones in proximity of their desired target.
“The drone issue is a is a real issue,” Cox said.
He referenced other countries’ ability “to park a truck full of drones next to a facility,” and added, “It’s something we’re worried about.”
“We’re worried about (foreign actors) spying on our test and training ranges on our military bases, and unauthorized drones photographing these bases,” he said. “So those locations and proximity absolutely matter.”
How did Utah officials conclude the Chinese company was a bad actor?
Mason said that Utah’s Statewide Information Analysis Center alerted the state’s Department of Public Safety that the land purchase looked suspicious.
It started with a tip, Mason said. Then DPS used private sector tracking technology that tracked the purchaser to a restricted foreign entity: China.
“From there, we worked closely with federal partners to validate the information we were seeing and use their resources to dig in behind the scenes as well,” Mason explained.
Then Mason’s team collaborated with the governor’s office, the Utah Attorney General’s Office and others to issue a letter of divestment. The letter informed the landowner he was in violation of Utah law.
“We’re excited to say we saw swift results within a matter of a couple months of moving through this process and issuing that letter,” Mason said. “That land has now been divested and is now in the hands of domestic partner and back in Utah’s control.”
He added, “Our message today is that Utah is open to business, but we’re not open to entities that threaten our state security or violate our laws.”
Former ambassador to China on foreign ownership of land
Gary Locke, U.S. ambassador to China from August 2011 to February 2014, was at World Trade Center Utah on Thursday where he discussed some of the issues facing the U.S. and China.
In an exclusive interview with the Deseret News, Locke was asked if there should be restrictions preventing China from purchasing property in America.
“Well, obviously, we have national security concerns, and it certainly depends on the type of business, I would think. Does that purchase of ag land 10 miles from a military base, or five miles from a military base … pose a threat to that military base?” he asked, noting the risk of surveillance.
He said he couldn’t comment directly on any sale but said “a blanket prohibition of foreign ownership, ownership of land by a person or entity that’s not a U.S. citizen, I think we need to be very, very careful about that.”
Contributing: Doug Wilks