A pair of Trump allies are unveiling a policy platform Monday that recommends how the U.S. should address the growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) within American institutions, the Daily Caller learned first.
Ric Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration, and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin launched the “Protecting America Initiative” in August. It is an organization focused on supporting lawmakers by helping them pass legislation to limit the CCP’s growing influence in America, the Daily Caller previously reported. The Protecting America Initiative is introducing a series of policy proposals aimed at stopping the CCP from buying U.S. farmland, infiltrating American infrastructure and having influence within the country’s higher education institutions, according to a policy page first reviewed by the Caller.
“Beijing does not have the best interest of Americans in mind as it secretly works to leverage our food supply, economy, education, and businesses. China’s pervasive influence and malignant intentions cannot be ignored. If Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will not stand up for Americans and our country, states must take immediate action,” Grenell told the Caller in a statement.
“We need strong, precise policies to counter the CCP’s aims in this country, and our policy plan is imperative for all state leaders to secure American interest at home,” he continued.
In an effort to prohibit Chinese accumulation of U.S. farmland, the Protecting America Initiative is calling for any farms owned or operated by China to be stripped of their government financial assistance, according to its new policy page. The organization also suggests that each individual state should establish reviews of any foreign purchase of land and ensure that U.S. agriculture companies are creating their products within the country, rather than outsourcing to China.
The Heritage Foundation released a report in May stating that the county was not adequately addressing the threat of Chinese ownership of American farmland and that, as it stands, is ill-equipped to deal with such a threat.
Other policy platforms of the Protecting America Initiative include addressing America’s political independence. The organization suggests that all government officials and lawmakers should be required to report any contact they have with China, the new policy page states.
To stop the growing threat of the CCP in higher education and the country’s K-12 system, the Protecting America Initiative’s policy page suggests that all colleges and universities be required to report all its ties to China and lawmakers should ensure that there is an “availability of research dollars contingent on the production of viable plans to stop IP theft.”
Since March 2021, the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability estimates that the country has seen a roughly 8,000% increase in Chinese illegal immigration. The Protecting America Initiative believes that in order to disincentivize illegal entry, lawmakers should increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking, according to its policy page. The organization also calls on lawmakers to “draft and approve laws establishing penalties for impermissible occupation in order to fight human trafficking.”
The organization is also proposing that in order to keep China out of America’s infrastructure, state-funded projects should “prioritize and restore domestic supply chains” and the use of Chinese technology equipment should be prohibited at the state and federal level, the policy page states.
The policy page also calls on states to enact “robust criminal penalties on the books to expel and punish IP theft and attacks on American companies.”
“Step one in protecting infrastructure is to stop relying on Chinese companies. Every state should immediately adopt a ban against local governments contracting with entities from China or controlled by the CCP,” the policy page states.
Before the Protecting American Initiative was launched in August, the Tyson Group released polling on Americans’ concerns regarding the CCP’s presence in the country. Forty-one percent believe that China is the biggest threat to the country’s national security, according to the poll. Sixty-eight percent of Americans told the pollster that China poses a major threat to America as it lobbies politicians and buys influence.
“Protecting America Initiative’s model policies should be implemented by all state governments across the country. The CCP is strategically working to control our country and our states, and only we can prevent that from happening. I urge legislators and governors to lead this effort before we lose our independence to the CCP in our own land,” Zeldin said in a statement to the Caller.