Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri signed an executive order on Tuesday barring Chinese citizens and businesses from purchasing agricultural land near dozens of military installations across the state.
The move "is as far as an executive authority goes under the current law of the state," the Republican governor said at a press conference at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.
The announcement comes amid heightened national security concerns in the United States related to Beijing in light of arrests of Chinese intelligence agents and the high-altitude Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the U.S. mainland last February.
"Believe me—if I had the authority, we wouldn't just be talking about banning farmland but all commercial properties by foreign adversaries, regardless of rural or urban," Parson, who is also a cattle rancher, said.
The blacklist of adversarial nations applies exclusively to purchases of rural land within 10 miles of "critical military facilities," the governor said.
In addition to China, other nationalities on the list include Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.
The executive action also empowers the Missouri Department of Agriculture to vet potential land purchases by entities of any foreign nationality.
"The words and deeds of the U.S. generalizing the concept of national security and politicizing economic, trade and investment issues run counter to the principles of market economy and international economic rules and undermine the confidence of the outside world in the U.S. market environment," Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek.
Liu said the new restriction would "further fuel Asian hatred in the U.S., intensify racial discrimination, and seriously undermine the values that the U.S. claims to hold."
Parson said his order "safeguards military and intelligence assets, prevents security threats to our states, and gives Missourians greater peace of mind."
In a question-and-answer session with the press, he called the executive order a "placeholder" pending legislative action from the General Assembly, the midwestern state's bicameral legislature.
He confirmed the decision was not retroactive, although he was not aware of any rural land in the state currently owned by any of the specified countries.
Parson stressed the executive order applies only to America's "enemies," observing that companies from friendly nations have invested almost $19 billion in the state and supported nearly 150,000 jobs over the past five years.
The announcement comes three months after the neighboring state of Arkansas ordered Chinese state-owned seed and pesticide producer Syngenta, headquartered in Switzerland, to hand over its 160 acres of land.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused the firm of posing "a clear threat to our national security" by potentially stealing seed technology, transferring it back to China, and "telling our enemies how to target American farms."
The move drew the ire of China's state media outlets including the nationalistic tabloid the Global Times, which said Arkansas governor was using the issue to divert attention from her controversial purchase of a $19,000 lectern with state funds.
Last May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law an act banning Chinese nationals from buying land or property anywhere in the Sunshine State, also citing national security concerns.
An exception was made for U.S.-visa holders, who were permitted to buy a plot not exceeding two acres, as long as they were more than 5 miles from a military facility.
Update 1/4/24, 10 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
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Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more
