North Dakota city council rejects Fufeng Group’s plan to build a corn mill near a top-secret base

A North Dakota council has voted to stop a Chinese company from opening a corn mill near a sensitive military base, after a high-ranking US Air Force officer spoke out against the plan.

The proposal, from Chinese food producer Fufeng Group, raised new fears after a spy balloon was shot down over US airspace over the weekend.

US Air Force Under Secretary Andrew P. Hunter called the 370-acre farm a “significant threat to national security” in a January 27 letter.

The property is located just 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is home to a vital communications network hub. Although the military does not have jurisdiction to stop the project, North Dakota senators released the letter a week before the Grand Forks city council met Monday to discuss the future of the project.

On Monday night, council members voted 5-0 to stop the project.

Although the project had previously been supported by local leadership as a potential benefit to the local economy, following the release of the Air Force position, leaders vowed to end the project.

The Grand Fork city council could halt construction on Fufeng by denying building permits or failing to connect the property to vital infrastructure.

During Monday’s meeting, dozens of Grand Forks residents spoke out against the project.

Many questioned what led the Grand Forks local government to settle with a company based in a nation considered a “national security threat” by the US government.

A citizen identified as Mr. Cochero suggested that the only motivation for doing so was ‘betrayal’.

‘Why would an individual, or individuals, or a company be involved with someone who is aggressive towards the United States?’ he said. Especially if they are an adversary against us?

The only conclusion I come to is money, blackmail prestige, power, sedition, betrayal. I don’t understand, why would you advocate it?’

‘How can you defend yourself against a foreign enemy against the United States? Those are questions that need to be asked.

The meeting concluded with city council members discussing how best to end plans for the Fufeng plant.

Fufeng Group bought the Grand Forks property for $2.5 million last year.

The purchase raised suspicions from military officials, national security experts and lawmakers alike, who felt the property could give China unprecedented access to events at the Air Force base.

The Grand Forks base has a space networking center that has been characterized as “the backbone of all US military communications around the world,” according to CNBC.

Air Force Commander Jeremy Fox wrote a memo in April characterizing the move as emblematic of Chinese efforts to set up shop near sensitive US defense installations.

He argued that the Fufeng property is located in the right place for the company to intercept communications coming from the Air Force base.

“Some of the most sensitive elements of Grand Forks exist with the digital uplinks and downlinks inherent to unmanned aerial systems and their interaction with space assets,” Fox wrote.

Such interceptions “would present a costly national security risk that would cause serious damage to the strategic advantages of the United States.”

“Passively collecting those signals would be undetectable, as the requirements to do so would simply require ordinary antennas tuned to the correct collection frequencies,” he said, “This introduces a serious vulnerability into our Department of Defense facilities and is incredibly compromising for USA. National Security.’

Initially, the Air Force noted that Fox’s memo was not the official position of the military on the matter, instead calling it his “personal assessment of potential vulnerabilities.”

However, with last month’s letter, official Air Force opinion seemed to agree with Fox.

“The department’s opinion is unequivocal,” wrote Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Hunter. “The proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with short- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area.”

North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer issued a statement agreeing with Hunter’s position and calling on Grand Forks to halt the project.

“The Air Force left ambiguity off the table,” they wrote, calling on the city “to find an American company to develop the agricultural project.”

Over the summer, a representative for Fufeng Group’s US subsidiary said spying fears couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I can’t imagine anyone we hire that is going to do that,” Fufeng USA COO Eric Chutorash told CNBC, saying he knew the company would “absolutely” not spy on US military interests.

We’re under US law, I’m a US citizen, I grew up here my whole life, and I’m not going to do any kind of spying or associate with a company that does, and I know my team. it feels exactly the same way,’ he said.

The drama unfolding in North Dakota comes days after the United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that was traveling across the continent.

The plane spent several days flying over military sites in North America before Washington said on Saturday that an F-22 fighter jet had shot it down off the coast of South Carolina in what it called an “unacceptable violation.” of US sovereignty by Beijing.

China has now accused the United States of using “indiscriminate force” to bring down the balloon, saying the action would be met with “necessary responses.”

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he filed a formal complaint with the US Embassy on Sunday over the “US attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned aircraft by military force.”

Then on Friday a second suspected spy balloon was detected over Latin America.

The detection of the balloon had already led to the cancellation of a planned visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was due to arrive in Beijing on Sunday.

The high-stakes trip was aimed at easing tensions between China and the United States, which have been on a downward spiral for years over issues ranging from trade to human rights.