What would it take for lawmakers to agree that providing the Chinese Communist Party with resources that could be directed against American interests should be against the law?
This broad question was a little narrower last year when the resource in question was Texas land, sales of which to CCP-connected entities one chamber of the Texas legislature, the state senate, voted to outlaw. Leaders of the other chamber disagreed, and the effort failed.
Now the issue is being taken up again but with little progress on the horizon (“Farm Bureau Supports Chinese Communist Party’s Land Grabs in Texas,” The Dallas Express, July 25, 2024).
At a hearing in the Texas House, the Texas Farm Bureau defended the practice of farm land being sold to individuals and entities closely affiliated with the Communist Party of China….
During the regular legislative session last year, the Senate passed Senate Bill 147, which would have banned the ownership of Texas agricultural land, mineral interests, and timber by citizens, companies, or governmental entities of countries designated by the federal government as threats to U.S. national security. This would apply to China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese firms and investors have bought 383,935 acres of U.S. land. For example, in 2021, 130,000 acres in South Texas near Laughlin Air Force Base were purchased by a former member of the Chinese communist army.
The Senate’s proposal was killed in the House. Indeed, it was never given a hearing by State Rep. Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi), who chairs the House State Affairs Committee….
At Wednesday’s hearing, Texas Farm Bureau representative Mickey Edwards expressed concern that a ban on foreign land ownership would impede the property rights of the sellers.
SB 147 would have prohibited purchases of land by “a governmental entity of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia,” any entity headquartered in one of those countries and controlled by its government, or “an individual who is a citizen of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.”
Edwards prefers the approach suggested by a legislator last session: require only that sellers be notified “that a hostile foreign entity was trying to purchase their land” without also prohibiting such sales.
The importance of property rights ought not be slighted. But no one has any property right, speech right, association right, or any right to provide assistance to a criminal organization hostile to the security and legitimate interests of the United States, whether or not the organization is consistently recognized for what it is.
