The U.S. Air Force has told North Dakota leaders that it believes a Chinese company\u2019s plans to build a wet corn milling plant near its Grand Forks base poses a \u201csignificant threat to national security,\u201d prompting city officials to say they’ll move to stop a project once touted as an economic boon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Fufeng Group\u2019s planned $700 million facility would be 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, a location that triggered some local concern<\/a> about potential espionage. Gov. Doug Burgum and U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer \u2014 all Republicans \u2014 pressed the federal government in July<\/a> to expedite a review of any security risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S.-China business ties have become strained amid growing tensions between the two countries over security and trade issues, which often overlap. China on Monday criticized U.S. controls on technology<\/a> exports as a trade violation. Fears over spying have led the U.S. armed forces to prohibited the Chinese-owned app TikTok on military devices, and nearly half of state governments<\/a> across the country have banned the video-sharing platform<\/a> from state-owned devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Grand Forks Air Force Base is a center for both air and space operations, according to a letter<\/a> sent to Hoeven and Cramer by Andrew Hunter, an assistant secretary of the Air Force. The senators released the correspondence Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area,\u201d Hunter wrote. The letter didn’t offer any evidence that Fufeng is a threat, nor did it detail what kind of risks the company’s business might pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, it was enough to move local authorities to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We believe the city should discontinue the Fufeng project and instead we should work together to find an American company to develop the agriculture project,\u201d Hoeven and Cramer said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said in a statement that he will ask his City Council to deny building permits for the project and to refuse to connect the 370-acre (150-hectare) site in Grand Forks\u2019 agri-business park to public infrastructure. The mayor, who previously favored the project, added that the federal government’s response had been \u201cslow and contradictory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s clearly a reflection of both the growing skepticism of trade ties with China and a sense of the security risks that come from Chinese investment,\u201d said Adam Segal, director of the digital and cyberspace policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without knowing more about specific risks the Air Force fears, it’s not clear why the military considers Fufeng’s proposed mill a greater threat than any other Chinese presence in the area, Segal said. The region is already home to a Chinese-owned Cirrus Aircraft plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fufeng officials previously have denied that the plant would be used for espionage. The company declined a request for comment Wednesday. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Grand Forks City Council gave initial approval<\/a> last February to the project, which officials said at the time could be the largest private sector investment<\/a> in the community\u2019s history. The governor initially supported it, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n