Following numerous controversies over foreign powers trying to buy land near sensitive U.S. military bases, new Federalism The Treasury Board’s ability to manage transactions will be expanded.
Lawmakers in states including Florida and North Dakota have long sounded the alarm about Chinese companies in particular, and now the Biden administration is taking steps that could make such purchases even more difficult.
rule The 2018 law gives the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) broader authority to investigate the effects of foreign investment in real estate transactions and asset transfers.
The new rules will provide additional protections to approximately 60 military installations or related properties.
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An aerial view of Barter Island, Kaktovik, Alaska, which has one base. (Getty)
Major facilities listed include Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall (formerly Fort Myer) in Arlington, Virginia; Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Cold Bay Regional Radar Facility and Naval Support Facility Ketchikan in Alaska; Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado; Camp Blaz in Dededo, Guam; and Naval Logistics Support Annex in Okahumpka, Florida.
The latter was likely a concern of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, before the passage of three landmark state bills aimed at curbing Chinese influence in the state.
One of those laws would prohibit Chinese nationals “residing” in China from buying land in Florida, but as of April, that law was embroiled in a legal battle.
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Governor DeSantis’ office did not respond to a request for comment, but said at the time that “our law is clear: we do not want the Chinese Communist Party to have influence in our state.”
In another case in North Dakota, a Chinese company’s purchase of land for a corn plant near Grand Forks Air Force Base was halted after protests from the state’s two Republican senators.
Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer had warned that the deal could pose a “serious threat to national security.”
In response to the Grand Forks controversy, the Treasury Department issued a May 2023 rule requiring foreign buyers to get federal approval to buy land near eight military installations.
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping (Xinhua/Sheng Hong via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital also reached out to Alaska state officials, as nearly a dozen of the newly certified facilities are in the Last Frontier.
The Treasury Department and CFIUS did not respond to requests for comment, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen welcomed the new rules in comments to The Associated Press.
“The Biden Administration is committed to using strong investment review tools to protect America’s national security, including measures to protect our military installations from external threats,” Yellen said.
The Treasury Department’s move comes one week after the White House issued an order halting planned purchases by Chinese cryptocurrency companies near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
