PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Noem outlined the blueprint for a state response to China at the America First Policy Institute.
The speech was presented at the America First Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Following the speech, Noem sat down to talk with Steve Yates, Chair of the China Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute.
Noem touched on how she recently banned TikTok from government devices, and any violations of that ban would be considered a criminal offense. Noem is now leading the effort to block China from purchasing American agricultural land.
Gov. Noem views China as an “enemy” and is working to restrict Chinese access to our data and farmland.
“When you think about our state, you maybe haven’t always thought about Communist China. That’s a good thing, we like that. We don’t want foreign, evil governments to be our neighbors, we prefer they stay our enemies because they hate us, and we don’t want nations that hate us to infiltrate and to be a part of our way of life,” said Noem.
Noem believes China aims to control the United States by taking over local food-sourcing operations.
“Between 2010 and 2020, the Chinese Communist Party’s holdings of US agricultural land increased by 5,300%. They now own more than 350,000 acres in the United States, valued at over $2 billion. We have 40,000,000 acres owned by other countries and foreign entities in this country,” said Noem.
Noem cited an instance where some land in North Dakota was purchased by a Chinese-affiliated company that claimed to be building a corn processing plant. She said the project raised suspicions since there was insufficient corn in the area to support a processing plant they claimed to build. The location they chose for the plant was also situated a “few miles from a U.S. Air Force base where a substantial capacity of our drone technology and weapons are housed.”
Just in the last couple of weeks, the assistant secretary to the airforce said the project presents a “significant threat to our national security.” Other officials are also speaking out against the project.
Noem said, “In South Dakota, we have Ellsworth Air Force Base, which will host the brand-new B22 bomber and is in a prime secure location to be able to defend on multiple fronts. Noem said she’ll defend Ellsworth by forming a committee that will investigate every transaction of land that takes place on a state level.
