Source: Global Times
[Reported by the Global Times reporter Ding Yazha] On local time June 2, Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the Senate Bill 1109 led by the Republican-dominated Senate. The bill aimed to ban the Chinese government and related entities from purchasing real estate in the state.
According to local media reports by "12news" and the "Arizona Mirror", this bill prohibits the Chinese government, state-owned enterprises, and their branches from acquiring a "substantial interest" in Arizona's real estate, meaning owning 30% or more ownership. The original version of the bill covered multiple entities and individuals listed as "adversarial nations" by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. On February 26, during the debate on the bill, its sponsor, Arizona Republican Senator Jenny Shimkus, claimed that the bill aimed to protect U.S. military bases from the threat of espionage, which she said had already occurred in Arizona.
However, the bill underwent intense debates in the state legislature for several months. On May 6, the House passed a key amendment that narrowed the ban's scope from multiple "adversarial nations" to only targeting China, to alleviate concerns from Democrats that the bill might be unconstitutional and lead to discrimination in land sales. However, the final votes in both the House and Senate still showed clear party divisions. The "Arizona Mirror" reported that reports about the Chinese government buying land near U.S. military bases were "misleading" in many cases.
On June 2, Governor Hobbs stated in her veto letter that the bill "does not directly protect our military assets" and "opens the door to arbitrary enforcement". She believed that while protecting infrastructure is important, this legislation is ineffective in counter-espionage activities and lacks clear implementation standards. It was reported that a similar bill attempting to ban the Chinese Communist Party and its members from holding land in Arizona was proposed in 2022 but also failed to pass through the legislative body.
Previously, several states in the U.S., including Ohio and Texas, attempted to push relevant bills, but these bills often sparked huge controversies and faced opposition and concerns from local Asian American communities. Regarding the consideration by several U.S. states to ban Chinese people from buying property, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the generalization of national security concepts and the politicization of economic and trade investment issues violate market economy principles and international trade rules, damaging confidence in the U.S. market environment.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7511860154489504297/
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