Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that he's been troubled by the Chinese government buying farmland and residential areas in the state because "they have interests that are opposed to ours."
While announcing a $3.5 billion commitment for clean water projects throughout the state, Governor DeSantis relayed that it wasn't in Florida's best interest to have "the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland, owning land close to military bases."
"We don't want to have holdings by hostile nations," DeSantis said in a video posted on his Twitter site. "If you look at the Chinese Communist Party, they've been very active throughout the Western Hemisphere in gobbling up land and investing in different things."
DeSantis continued: "When they have interests that are opposed to ours, and you see how they wielded their authority, especially with President Xi [Jinping], who has taken a much more Marxist, Leninist turn since he has been ruling China, that is not in the best interests of Florida."
According to a recent study by the National Association of Realtors, from March 2021 to March 2022, China was the largest foreign buyer in terms of the dollar volume of U.S. homes purchased ($6.1 billion), up 30% from the prior period.
Also, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, foreign investors accounted for 6.3% of Florida's privately held farmland in 2021.
DeSantis said the state Legislature has passed bills to eliminate Confucius Institutes at state universities, programs funded by the Chinese government to inform students about the nation's culture that DeSantis said are designed to "bring propaganda" into schools.
The Florida lawmakers have also limited China's ability to fund research at state universities.
"I think we're going to go even further on that," said DeSantis, potentially a prominent challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. "The Legislature only went so far a couple years ago. I think they're going to have an appetite to do more because [China's] influence on our society has been very insidious."
DeSantis said the U.S. economy has become too intertwined with China economically.
"It hurts [Florida]. It hurts our economic vitality, it hurts our security" the Republican governor said. "When COVID hit, people needed all these supplies; I think like 100% of it was made in China. Why would you want to rely on a hostile nation for things that are integral for our quality of life and security?
"This has been going on for many, many decades so disentangling from China, I think is something that is very, very significant going forward," said DeSantis.
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