Freedom

By Katie Spence

The Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, wants to destroy the United States and is actively trying to purchase agricultural property and property adjacent to military complexes to achieve that goal, South Dakota’s Governor, Kristi Noem, explained in an interview, which aired on Newsmakers by NTD and The Epoch Times on Jan. 25.

“[The CCP are] not a bunch of dummies. They hate us. They want to destroy us, and every action that they take is to undermine our freedom,” Noem said.

Thus, to prevent the CCP from achieving its objective, Noem signed Executive Order 2023-02 on Jan. 20. It explicitly prohibits the CCP from purchasing agricultural land and other property near military bases.

In addition to China, the Executive Order lists Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea as problematic. And the Executive Order defines them as a “Prohibited Entity” with which the State of South Dakota can’t do business.

“We had an incident up in North Dakota, our neighbors to the north, where the Chinese Communist Party and foreign entities were buying up ag land. And they were buying ag land near military installations, which they were saying was for a different purpose. But we recognize the real national security threat we have,” Noem said about what led to the Executive Order.

Noem further explained, “[This Executive Order] is specifically targeted towards countries that hate us. And listen, these are evil governments that want to undermine the United States of America and want to take away our freedoms and liberties.”

“My job as governor is to protect the people of South Dakota. This Executive Order builds the momentum for preventing people from doing business with the state of South Dakota that hate us.”

National Security

According to Noem, who’s worked in food policy for approximately 20 years, the CCP has grown its military and stolen the United States’ intellectual property for generations. Additionally, they’ve purchased fertilizer and chemical companies, as well as processing systems, to gain control of America’s food supply chains.

“I’ve worked on food policy for probably 20 years now. I’ve seen [the CCP] infiltrate our food supply chain. I’ve seen them control different supply chains by purchasing processing plants,” Noem said. “In fact, there’s been programs in the federal government that allowed people to literally invest in processing systems for our food manufacturing here in the United States in exchange for citizenship.”

Still, gaining control over America’s food supply chain isn’t the only reason the CCP has for purchasing agricultural land.

“[The CCP] infiltrated our country to where now they’re purchasing land. And they may be purchasing this land not necessarily to grow food, but to get a presence close to some of our national security bases that they should not have any logistical latitude to be near,” Noem said.

Specifically, Noem stated, South Dakota is home to Ellsworth Air Force Base.

“We have Ellsworth Air Force base here in South Dakota. It’s going to be the first base in this nation to have the B-21 Bombers, the next-generation bombers,” Noem said. “The most horrific thing that could happen is if China was able to come in and purchase land near Ellsworth that would allow them to conduct surveillance on that new bomber that we’re going to use to protect our country far into the future.”

Protecting for Future Generations

According to Noem, the threat posed by the CCP isn’t new. In fact, during the Obama administration, several studies came out detailing China’s threat to the supply chain.

But nothing was done to protect the United States, and under President Biden, the CCP threat has only grown. As a result, Noem felt she was forced to issue her Executive Order. She added that’s why other governors, like Florida’s Ron DeSantis, are looking at similar orders.

“The reason that I had to take this action, as governor, is because our President isn’t protecting us. Joe Biden is a wall. He’s been a horrific president as far as national security issues. He’s not protecting us from evil governments. And that’s why governors like myself have to step up and take actions such as this,” Noem said.

She added that without bans against the CCP, and other countries that hate America, the country’s future is in jeopardy.

“All this is about our kids. Now, at the end of the day, you know, we have been a generation that has lived with the benefits of the United States of America. What kind of a country are we going to leave them? Are we going to leave them free? Are we going to leave them with the same opportunities that we had the chance to enjoy?

“So this kind of action, and being willing to fight these kinds of fights, to protect our freedom, is incredibly important,” Noem said.

She concluded that action is “necessary to preserve this greatest experiment in human history. That was the gift that our founders gave us. And that is the United States of America.”