Governor Glenn Youngkin joined a coalition of governors from 17 states who on Monday sent a letter to President Joe Biden that urged the administration to prevent “dangerous and adversarial governments to infiltrate our country” by purchasing “swaths of real property throughout the United States.”
Citing multiple reports that companies linked to China are purchasing large amounts of farmland, including near U.S. military installations, the governors wrote to demand the Biden administration “reckon with the fact that such entities are plain threats to our national security, our farmers, and our citizenry.”
A Republican Governors Association (RGA) press release, which announced the letter, accused the White House of failing “to address the threat at hand,” and highlighted alternative action taken in “Republican-led states.”
The letter, spearheaded by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), notes that “[n]umerous governors and state legislatures have taken action to protect” from the “imminent national security threat of the Chinese Communist Party” by banning individuals and businesses from China from buying land, but declared that “national security demands a national response from national leaders,” and the “responsibility is now with” the Biden administration to “follow the lead” of state governments.
Underscoring the importance of federal action, the legislators reference a Chinese law, passed in 2017, which requires “Chinese citizens abroad to collaborate with Chinese security officials on intelligence work – no questions asked.”
Virginia is among 11 states that have passed legislation to prevent companies or individuals tied to foreign adversaries from buying farmland, the letter notes, while 16 other states already had such laws on their books. There are no federal limits on Chinese land ownership, and NBC News reported that federal oversight over such purchases is “lax and enforcement is minimal.”
The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill, championed by Youngkin, which bans the sale of agricultural land to individuals or businesses from countries identified as foreign adversaries in February. The legislation came amid concerns about possible foreign land purchases near Virginia’s military installations, as seen in North Dakota.
After the law was passed, local media obtained 2021 data indicating no recent Chinese purchases in Virginia. However, it found that Chinese firms or individuals owned about 14,000 acres of Virginia farmland in 2021.
Though China has generally received the most attention, the current list of foreign adversaries, whose citizens are prohibited from purchasing farmland in Virginia, now includes Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
A previous Carlyle Group CEO, Youngkin addressed his former business dealings in China while campaigning in 2021, arguing that while he was “really good” at doing business in China, “it was a small part of what Carlyle did.”
Youngkin added that his experience would help him “negotiate against China or any other foreign interest in Virginia,” and noted that former President Donald Trump thanked him for helping to secure a trade deal with the communist country.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
