A North Dakota council has voted to block a Chinese company from opening a corn mill near a sensitive military base, after a high-ranking United States Air Force official spoke out against the plan.
The proposal, from Chinese food producer Fufeng Group, prompted fresh fears after a spy balloon was shot down over US air space over the weekend.
US Air Force Assistant Secretary Andrew P. Hunter called the 370-acre farm owned a ‘significant threat to national security’ in a January 27 letter.
The property is located a mere 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is home to a vital communications network center. Though the military does not have the jurisdiction to halt the project, North Dakota senators released the letter a week before the Grand Forks city council met Monday to discuss the project’s future.
On Monday night, council members voted 5-0 to stop the project.
Their vote was met with a round of applause and cheers from those in attendance, many of whom expressed frustration at council members, city staff members and Mayor Brandon Bochenski.
Though the project had been previously supported by local leadership as a potential boon to the local economy, following the release of the Air Force’s position leaders had vowed to put an end to the project.
US Air Force Assistant Secretary Andrew P. Hunter called the Fufeng project a ‘significant threat to national security’
Two Fufeng Group employees visit Grand Fork, N.D., in a site visit before the company’s purchase of 300 acres of farmland
During the Monday meeting, scores of Grand Forks residents turned out to speak out against the project.
Many questioned what led the local government in Grand Forks to come to an agreement with a company based in a nation deemed a ‘national security threat’ by the US government.
One citizen identified as Mr Coachman suggested that the only motivation to do so was ‘treason.’
‘Why would an individual, or individuals, or a company be involved with somebody that is aggressive to the United States?’ he said. ‘Especially if they’re an adversary against us?’
‘The only conclusion I come is up with is money, black mail prestige, power, sedition, treason. I’m not understanding, why would you advocate for it?’
‘How can you defend yourself against a foreign enemy against the United States? those are questions that need to be asked.’
The meeting concluded with the city council members discussing how it would best go about ending the plans for the Fufeng plant.
US Air Force Assistant Secretary Andrew P. Hunter’s letter about the Fufeng farm project
Fufeng Group purchased the Grand Forks property for $2.5million last year.
The purchase raised suspicions from military officers, national security experts and lawmakers alike, who felt the property could give China unprecedented access to the goings-on at the Air Force base.
The Grand Forks base has a space-networking center that’s been characterized as ‘the backbone of all US military communications across the globe,’ according to CNBC.
Air Force Major Jeremy Fox wrote a memo in April characterizing the move as being emblematic of Chinese efforts to install themselves close to sensitive US defense installations.
He argued that the Fufeng property is located at just the right location for the company to intercept communications coming from the Air Force base.
‘Some of the most sensitive elements of Grand Forks exist with the digital uplinks and downlinks inherent with unmanned air systems and their interaction with space-based assets,’ Fox wrote.
Such interceptions ‘would present a costly national security risk causing grave damage to United States’ strategic advantages.’
‘Passive collection of those signals would be undetectable, as the requirements to do so would merely require ordinary antennas tuned to the right collecting frequencies,’ he said.
‘This introduces a grave vulnerability to our Department of Defense installations and is incredibly compromising to US National Security.’
Some of the nation’s most sensitive drone technology is based at Grand Forks Air Force Base
Initially the Air Force noted Fox’s memo was not the military’s official position on the matter, and instead called it his ‘personal assessment of potential vulnerabilities.’
With last month’s letter though, the Air Force’s official opinion seemed to line up with Fox.
‘The department’s view is unambiguous,’ wrote Air Force Assistant Secretary Hunter. ‘The proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area.’
North Dakota senators Kevin Cramer released a statement agreeing with Hunter’s position, and asked Grand Forks to halt the project.
‘The Air Force left ambiguity off the table,’ they wrote, and asked the city ‘to find an American company to develop the agriculture project.’
Over the summer, a representative for the Fufeng Group’s US subsidiary said fears of espionage couldn’t be further from the truth.
‘I can’t imagine anyone that we hire that’s going to even do that,’ Fufeng USA chief operating officer Eric Chutorash told CNBC, saying he knew the company ‘absolutely’ would not spy on US military interests.
‘We’re under US law, I’m an American citizen, I grew up my whole life here, and I am not going to be doing any type of espionage activities or be associated with a company that does, and I know my team feels the exact same way,’ he said.
A Chinese spy balloon which floated the length of the United States before being shot down
An F-22 Raptor fighter jet fired a single AIM-9X missile to take down a Chinese spy balloon and its payload, which was equipped with cameras, sensors and radars
The drama unfolding in North Dakota comes days after the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that travelled across the continent.
The aircraft spent several days flying over military sites in North America, before Washington on Saturday said an F-22 fighter jet had shot it down off the coast of South Carolina, because of what it called Beijing’s ‘unacceptable violation’ of US sovereignty.
China has now accused America of using ‘indiscriminate force’ in shooting down the balloon and said the action would be met with the ‘necessary responses’.
Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy on Sunday over the ‘US attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force.’
A second suspected spy balloon was then spotted over Latin America on Friday.
The balloon’s detection had already prompted the cancellation of a planned visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had been due to arrive in Beijing on Sunday.
The high-stakes trip was aimed at easing Sino-US tensions – which have been in a downward spiral for years over issues from trade to human rights.
