Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, harshly criticized Secretary of State Antony Blinken's performance during his visit to China, telling Newsmax on Tuesday that a weak foreign policy has, unfortunately, been the norm for the Biden administration.
She told "Wake Up America" that Blinken "really approached this meeting in a position of weakness," emphasizing that "we have seen this with the Biden administration over and over again through all of their foreign policy."
Ernst, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reiterated the danger of making "extremely weak" statements about the U.S.'s One China policy on Chinese soil without strong qualifications.
The senator stressed that there has been disastrous consequences in other foreign policy issues, such as "we have seen what has happened with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. ... and the administration basically saying a "minor incursion of Ukraine would be no big deal."
Ernst is also adamant that there must be a pushback against Beijing.
To that end, she is introducing a bill to "overhaul the process that currently allows the Chinese government and private businesses to buy American farmland with impunity and with very little regulation."
Ernst said that "we have seen the foreign ownership and investment of American land nearly double over the last decade," emphasizing that "the U.S. has got to be more involved in who is purchasing our land. It is very concerning."
She said that foreign governments and businesses currently own and invest in up to about 50 million acres of American farmland, which is the greater than the size of Tennessee.
Ernst said that people woke up to the dangers emanating from Beijing, with the alarm bells particularly going off "when the Chinese bought land surrounding an Air Force base in North Dakota ... this is a national security risk, not only because they are purchasing land near sensitive areas, but it is also about our food. Food security is national security."
The senator said that "we need to make sure that we are monitoring who is in charge of our land and how it is purchased."
She explained that "this bill would bring the USDA into that process, as well as the FDA, and we'll have a publicly available database of all foreign land purchases, so we really have to radically overhaul the way we do business and we've got to wake up and watch what China is doing."
Ernst said that on this bill she expects "very good bipartisan support in the Senate. This is an issue where Democrats and Republicans can come together. It's pushing back on China, and that is exactly what needs to happen in this case."
When asked if she was going to endorse a candidate in the Iowa Republican caucuses, Ernst said that "Chuck Grassley, our senior senator, Governor Kim Reynolds and I all remain neutral through the Iowa caucus process, because we are the first-in-the nation caucus state, and it is incredibly important that the GOP maintain this relationship with all our candidates and that we welcome every single one in."
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