A pending real estate deal with the China-owned Fufeng has been halted by India’s swift section of House Bill 1183 in March, which prohibits specific property sales to businesses from China and various hostile nations, according to LaPorte County Assessor records. Following a U.S. Air Force letter that described it as a” major threat to national security,” Fufeng was searching for real estate in Indiana after being expelled from Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Fufeng was tarred and feathered out of the state after completing a area order to establish itself in North Dakota. Luckily, it was legislated out of Indiana — for today.
Fufeng’s brief- lived look in Indiana was a cigarettes gun. What else is happening? The traditional commerce department’s unelected upgrade to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation ( IEDC ) assists with the selection and development of Indiana’s businesses. The IEDC has set up some China- owned companies in the condition, including 25 already operating, according to the IEDC public counsel.
The growth of Chinese-based businesses in Indiana has never happened naturally, but rather through consolidated planning and the support of a volunteer with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. According to a lease on the IEDC’s website, the organization has been paying the American China Society of Indiana (ACSI) to help it close talks with Chinese-owned companies. The agreement outlines IEDC’s involvement in “identifying and creating a network of]foreign direct investment ] hopes in China” and preparing vacation excursions, among other things.
A state contract to fill a requested “pipeline” of China- owned businesses wishing to engage in foreign direct investment, including the purchase of U. S. land, is concerning. The 2017 National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China directs that “any organization or citizen shall support, assist, and cooperate with the state intelligence work” and” state intelligence work institutions shall collect and handle the acts or acts of foreign institutions, organizations, and individuals …”.
In other words, Chinese-owned businesses operating in the US are expected to gather intelligence about the country. Further, most large Chinese companies, especially those allowed to expand into the United States, have CCP members or even party committees within them ensuring loyalty to the CCP’s goals.
An organization like ACSI raises additional issues when tied to state-level government, aside from the concerns with Chinese companies gaining traction in the United States. ACSI has carried out a number of influence operations and public relations events that have the potential to stifle state decision-making through pressure, gain, or both.
You Will Know Them From the Fruits They Carry
ACSI’s 2018 board of directors paints a picture of the IEDC’s exposure to CCP influence.
- A member of the IEDC is on the board, guaranteeing that the IEDC is not only aware of, but actively has influence in, ACSI’s activities.
- One of the China-owned companies that ACSI acquired as part of the “pipeline” is Westfield Outdoors. Westfield Outdoors, along with other China- owned businesses, is one of ACSI’s member sponsors, which in turn influence businesses ACSI recommends to Indiana.
- Dr. Zao ( Joe ) Xu, founder of the Confucius Institute at Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, was on the ACSI board until 2018. Following expert testimony identifying CI as part of a CCP influence operation, the U.S. government defunded Confucius Institutes ( CI). Nearly all other Confucius Institutes in the United States closed in 2019.
A board that convenes Indiana’s government representatives along with CCP-linked influencers and oversees a society whose members include Chinese-owned businesses with an intelligence-gathering mission is a recipe for shaky decision-making.
The Deepening
In 2019, Indiana Governor and IEDC Board Chairman Eric Holcomb traveled to China, likely as part of an effort to “renew the Indiana-Zhejiang sister-state relationship” that was first established in 1987. Since the Indiana legislature has since outlawed sister-city agreements with China, Holcomb was forced to sign a bill that vehemently criticizes the same kind of agreement he celebrated five years ago.
During that trip, Holcomb visited with the president of the China People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries ( CPAFFC), known as the” ‘ public face’ of the CCP’s United Front Work Department”.
In contrast to ACSI’s description of CPAFFC as “focused on deepening international friendships”, the CPAFFC’s mission in its own words is” to make the foreign serve China”. Wikipedia has a wealth of information about this stunning whitewashing.
Why did Indiana’s governor meet with the head of the CCP’s influence operation, which aims to make other nations serve China? As part of its role in organizing IEDC’s China-bound trips, ACSI would have added the CPAFFC stop to the itinerary in accordance with the CCP’s instructions. Holcomb might have thought a nice lady with a panda plate had “deepened” him innocently. But from the CPAFFC’s and CCP’s point of view, he declared his subservience.
‘ Mask Diplomacy ‘
In the early Covid era, China produced masks while businesses like MyPillow switched to making masks for donations. Then China decided it was time to give. ACSI made an effort to ensure Indiana’s participation in the geopolitical phenomenon that was later dubbed” Mask Diplomacy”
For a photo op, the CCP used mask diplomacy, which involved distributing small amounts of masks in order to reflect suspicions that Covid was from the Wuhan Lab. According to the July 2020 news article on ACSI’s website, India was one of the favored states and nations to receive the honor of free masks.
In reality, the CCP called in this publicity stunt to honor those trusted partners who have sworn allegiance to the CCP’s head of foreign submission ( the CPAFFC) and who could be trusted to help raise awareness of this endeavor.  , With both the general public and the carefully selected recipients, the self- serving “favor” was an investment that would be expected to produce a return.
To the recipients, it was likely a nuisance. In context, 100, 000 masks is a very small number. The IEDC admitted in 2020 that it was responsible for spending$ 49 million on 27 million masks for the state, the smallest of which was 1 million. The only mention of this event on IEDC’s website is that the Chinese gift included a very detailed receipt.
The IEDC’s desire to give masks and take credit was likely low compared to the CCP’s desire for such a small number of masks. However, the state of Indiana, through its contractor ACSI, accepted a nearly$ 200, 000 public gift from the CCP’s Zhejiang Provincial Government. What are the odds that the CCP would parlay that “favor” into a return gesture?
Far- Flung Fufeng
These are some of the more intriguing components of a long line of CCP-linked business development activities that the IEDC has not done much to promote. It might also explain why the IEDC accepted Fufeng earlier this year following its Department of Defense-ordered expulsion from North Dakota.
Will the IEDC cancel its contract with ACSI for a “pipeline” of China- based companies in light of the HB 1183 restrictions? Do other states have similar low-profile connections to the CCP that are buried deep within unelected departments? Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. states that are currently advancing anti-China bills like HB 1183 may be doing so in opposition to influence schemes hidden within their own governments.
Vanessa Battaglia is a defense engineer with experience designing software, hardware, and airborne systems for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Special Operations Command, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
