Photo: Alamy
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is not backing down when it comes to defending the sovereignty of U.S. soil, telling Laura Ingraham of Fox News recently that he opposed Chinese business interests buying up American real estate.
According to a report from the New York Post, DeSantis told Ingraham, “I think the problem is these companies have ties to the CCP, and it’s not always apparent on the face of whatever a company is doing — but I think it’s a huge problem.”
Chinese entities buying up land in the U.S. is nothing new. Via a 2022 article from Newsweek, Chinese companies own roughly $1.9 billion in agricultural land in the U.S., which is equal to around 192,000 acres, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
According to the Western Journal, that number is shockingly eclipsed by billionaire Bill Gates, who is now the largest private owner of U.S. farmland, with approximately 270,000 acres under his control.
The U.S., in total, has around 900 million acres of agricultural land.
DeSantis’s comments about the CCP encroaching on American turf came after a report from the National Association of Realtors revealed that Chinese real estate investors dumped around $6.1 billion into American assets over the course of 12 months, the New York Post reported.
Some sources are claiming that DeSantis is seeking to ban China from purchasing any property in the state of Florida.
In the past, the governor has stated that Chinese land purchases are highly suspect. “From a national security perspective, is that something that we want to see?” he remarked during a press conference in September 2022. “And a lot of times, there’ll be companies that will put themselves out as private, but if you peel back the onion a little bit, they’re basically controlled by the [CCP].”
However, Chinese overreach is not the only thing DeSantis is taking a stand against in the Sunshine State. According to a report from Fox News, a new bill has been introduced to the Florida State Legislature that will replace “woke” Walt Disney World’s self-governing status with a state-run board.
A spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis’s office, Taryn Fenske, commented to Fox, “Imposing a state-controlled board will also ensure that Orange County cannot use this issue as a pretext to raise taxes on Orange County residents.”
This is yet another move from Gov. DeSantis to put the corporate giant in its place after having operated within the boundaries of its own self-governing power.