North Dakota community fights to stop Chinese company Fufeng from opening corn mill near US Air Force base

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More than 300-acres of North Dakota farmland could soon be home to a massive corn mill, owned by the Chinese company Fufeng.

Fufeng plans to invest $700 million to open the mill. But the community is weary because state and local officials said the company has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. "I'm not going to say that economic development isn't a good thing. But at what cost?" said Ben Grzadzielewski. The plant would be just 12-miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base – home to top secret drone technology. The community is fighting back, collecting thousands of signatures on a petition to bring the deal to a vote and suing the city to stop the project. Grzadzielewski is working closely with the legal team. IF BIDEN WON'T STOP LAND GRABS BY CHINA, CONGRESS WILL

Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. (Fox News)

"In terms of Grand Forks, its water use, pollution, and smell. In terms of national, it is security. Everyone should be worried nationally about the security issues as well as locally," Grzadzielewski told Fox News. The prime farmland is just across from Frank Matejecks Red River Angus Farm. "This is 370-acres of some of the best farmland in the country," Matejeck said. Wondering why Fufeng chose that land for the mill, he told Fox News that the property would not be located near tons of corn crops. "There will never be enough corn from the growers around here to facilitate that plant, ever," said Matejeck. The land, which is usually full of sugar beets and soybeans, was owned by three local farmers. The property was not for sale when officials said Fufeng offered to buy the land. The Chinese company spent millions to secure the deal, dishing out well over the average price for the land at more than $26,000 an acre. From yard signs, to tense council meetings, the fight against Fufeng rages on. "This is crazy. You people want to bring communist China to Grand Forks. They kill people in communist China," a concerned citizen told the council at a recent meeting.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., walks through the Senate subway in the Capitol on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Now, making its way all the way to Washington D.C. where North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer said the threat of Chinese espionage is very real. "The China of today is not the China of decades ago. China has demonstrated real aggression," said Senator Cramer. Cramer is a member of the Committee on Armed Services. Receiving weekly national security briefings.  "Stuff that I can't share, but stuff that people should be concerned about," Senator Cramer said. It's not just here in North Dakota. According to the USDA, Chinese owners control at least $2 billion worth of agricultural land across the country. That number is low compared to other foreign countries but growing.  Fufeng would be the largest foreign private sector investment in the history of Grand Forks. The city said the plant would bring in at least 200 jobs and millions in tax revenue. Grand Forks Republican Mayor Brandon Bochenski said he hears the concerns. "We would love to see growth. We'd love to see a corn mill, you know, the whole China thing just makes it more difficult for us," Mayor Bochenski said.

A New York Times guest essay suggested Monday that the Biden administration's posture on China distracts from Russia. (Bikash Dware/The Rising Nepal via AP))

TAIWAN BOASTS OF POWERFUL ANTI-AIRCRAFT WEAPONRY AMID FEARS OF CHINESE INVASION Mayor Bochenski said Grand Forks is not desperate for investment and he knows there is a possibility the deal could be killed. "There's nobody in the world right now than me that would rather have this be an American company. Because, you know, like I said, nobody is ecstatic about it being a Chinese investment. We're patriotic. I'm a patriotic guy. I would love American companies to invest more in our country instead of investing overseas. But, you know, that's not the environment we're in, unfortunately. We're trying to sort through this," Bochenski told Fox News. The Republican Mayor said it is not a done deal, until the federal government weighs in. "If they truly believe it is a bad project and have the facts and the information to back it up, we'll certainly follow their lead," Mayor Bochenski said. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Right now, the federal government is reviewing Fufeng’s plans to find out if there is any threat to national security.  The city expects the review to be done within a month. 

Fufeng said they won’t comment until the review is done. So, for now, the plan is still in play. 

Alexis McAdams currently serves as an FNC correspondent based in New York City. She joined the network in January 2020.

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Wolfgang Petersen, director of 'Das Boot' and 'Air Force One,' dead at 81

Petersen, a German filmmaker, earned the most awards acclaim in his career for his 1981 World War II epic "Das Boot," but his career is populated by a number of films that hold special places in the hearts of cult action film lovers.

After writing and directing 1984's children's fantasy film "The NeverEnding Story," he went on to make a string of action films with some of the biggest stars of their eras, like "In the Line of Fire" (starring Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo), "Outbreak" (with Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman and Russo) and "Air Force One" (with Harrison Ford and Glenn Close).

In the aughts, he continued the trend, helming "The Perfect Storm" with George Clooney and "Troy" with Brad Pitt and "Poseidon."

"Being directed by Wolfgang on 'Air Force One' remains a special memory," actress Glenn Close said in a statement provided to CNN. "Even though the script was thrilling and incredibly intense, I remember a lot of laughs, especially in the scenes around the huge table in the War Room."

Petersen, she said, would set up a remote-controlled camera that could rotate in place, enabling him to film all the actors and Petersen wiould provide them cues when they were being filmed.

"You knew the camera would pause on you by his hilarious direction while setting up the shot. He would point to us in turn and say, 'Acting...acting...NO acting...NO acting...ACTING... aaaacting!'" she recalled. "He didn't waste anyone's time. My memory is of a man full of joie de vivre who was doing what he most loved to do."

Petersen is survived by his wife, Maria Antoinette, son Daniel and two grandchildren, according to his spokesperson.

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More executions will force ASEAN rethink on Myanmar ties: Special envoy

Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, speaking in his capacity as special envoy to Myanmar of the 10-member ASEAN, described the executions of Myanmar dissidents as a “setback” to his mediation.

Prak Sokhonn said the nine ASEAN members aside from Myanmar had “agreed to see how things will evolve in the coming weeks and months.” (Reuters)

Efforts by Myanmar’s neighbours to help restore peace and normalcy to the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation have been hindered by the country’s recent executions of four political activists, Cambodia has said.

Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, speaking in his capacity as special envoy to Myanmar of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, warned on Saturday that further executions would force the regional grouping to reconsider how it engages with fellow member Myanmar.

Cambodia is the current chair of the regional grouping, and Myanmar is not welcome to send members of its ruling military government to ASEAN meetings because of its failure to cooperate with a plan agreed upon last year to work toward restoring peace.

ASEAN meeting’s final communique, issued on Friday, included a section criticising Myanmar for its lack of progress in ending violence there, but with weaker language than several countries had hoped for.

On Saturday, Prak Sokhonn  said the nine ASEAN members aside from Myanmar had “agreed to see how things will evolve in the coming weeks and months.”

He said “if more executions are conducted, then things will have to be reconsidered,” which suggested that ASEAN is prepared to downgrade its engagement with Myanmar’s military government.

Prak Sokhonn said progress has been made on providing humanitarian aid to Myanmar, but not on the other main points in ASEAN’s plan: stopping the violence and opening up a political dialogue among all the country’s contending parties.

“The only will I see now is to continue to fight,” he said. “Why? Because of the lack of trust and the execution of the activists, whether it is legal or illegal.”

“And without this trust, the fight will continue and the political process will never start because no one will come if they fear for their life,” he said.

Prak Sokhonn declined to say whether he had been in contact with the opposition group, but declared that he was free as special envoy to engage with anyone outside Myanmar.

ASEAN has been criticised by some of its own members as well as other countries for doing too little to pressure Myanmar to implement the five-point consensus.

READ MORE: UN Security Council condemns Myanmar executions in rare consensus

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNVVET_e-q8[/embed]

Myanmar hits out at ASEAN

Myanmar’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement on Friday, saying it objected to a reference in the ASEAN joint statement to a “lack of progress” in implementing the five-point consensus because “it neglects Myanmar’s efforts on its implementation.”

It also said that the four men recently executed were not punished because they were political activists but because they were “found guilty of masterminding, inciting, supporting, arming and committing terrorist activities which caused tremendous loss of innocent lives.”

The opposition forces in Myanmar operate as an underground alternative administration, the National Unity Government, and its affiliated armed wing, the People’s Defence Force.

Myanmar’s military government has branded the groups as “terrorists” and even declared contact with them to be illegal.

“If ASEAN member states and external partners genuinely wish to help Myanmar in restoring normalcy, they should not encourage engaging with the terrorist groups such as NUG and PDF and should avoid any actions that could encourage terrorism,” said Friday’s statement from Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry.

READ MORE: Who were the four activists put to death by Myanmar’s military rulers?

Source: AP

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