Property purchase curbs spark outrage in Texas

The bill prompted him and other Asian lawmakers in Texas to form an Asian American and Pacific Islander, or AAPI, legislative caucus.

The caucus was announced on Jan 31, AAPI Legislative Day, at the Texas Capitol, where Asian Americans gathered to discuss obstacles and opportunities for themselves and Pacific Islanders in Texas.

The six Asian legislators in Texas are included in the caucus, which is jointly chaired by Wu and Angie Chen Button.

Wu said at the announcement ceremony, "Forming the AAPI caucus is a big stepping stone, a big milestone, for our community."

Austin Zhao, former chairman of the Houston Asian Chamber of Commerce, board member of the International Business Brokers Association and senior mergers and acquisitions adviser for Transworld Business Advisors, said some of his clients are worried about their investment prospects due to SB 147.

Zhao helps entrepreneurs make business deals, and many of his clients are immigrants.

"Some of them have been asking me about this bill. They are worried they will not be able to purchase land or invest in Texas in the future. This bill is basically trying to chase them out of Texas, making Texas a business-unfriendly state," Zhao said.

As an immigrant from China and a US citizen, Zhao said that under SB 147 he could not have invested in a shopping mall as a permanent resident.

"This bill is simply ridiculous and unconstitutional. The fight is between the two governments (past and present). Why do you punish individuals here in the US as a result? This is so unfair," he said.

In addition to economic consequences for Texas and individuals, Zhao said the more serious repercussions of the bill are that Chinese in the US would be defined as secondary citizens by law even if SB 147 were modified.

"We would be discriminated against. What would come next? Sending us to concentration camps? This is the 21st century. We can't allow that kind of discrimination to become law," he said.

Like many others, Zhao blamed politicians for using national security for political gain. "This is not for national security, this is for pursuing political exposure for personal and partisan interest," he said.

Law extension

The SB 147 bill is an extension of a law enacted last year — the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, or LSIPA. This legislation prohibits businesses and governments in Texas from contracting entities owned or controlled by individuals and entities from China, Russia, the DPRK and Iran for projects involving critical infrastructure.

LSIPA was a direct response to a land-use dispute between local residents and a wind farm owned by Chinese real estate businessman Sun Guangxin in south Texas. Sun's company declined to comment on the dispute.

According to a Forbes report in 2021, Sun, a real estate billionaire from China incorporated his company in the US in 2015. He bought about 140,000 acres (56,656 hectares) of land in a community in Val Verde county on the Mexican border in the name of his subsidiary GH America.

In 2017, local residents became alarmed when French wind turbine developer Akuo built the Rocksprings wind farm in the east of county on land leased from Sun. They feared the wind farm would threaten the Devils River ecosystem.

When the environmental group Devils River Conservancy learned of a plan by Sun's company to build a second wind farm, it launched a campaign against the project, titled Don't Blow It, Texas, according to Forbes.

Julie Lewey, the group's executive director, told Forbes: "Initially, we tried to take the environmental angle, as we had these endangered species and because the Devils River Conservancy has largely been focused on the ecological components of the region. Unfortunately, that angle didn't get a lot of traction."

Forbes reported that the group then started talking about "the hot-blooded issues of protecting nearby Laughlin Air Force Base, Sun's connections to the Chinese Communist Party, and the alleged national security threat GH America posed to Texas and the United States".

Lewey said: "We started to roll out the narrative and really just spread awareness and understanding that this company from China was planning to connect to our critical infrastructure. We're not xenophobic, but we are concerned for our national security, as every red-blooded American is."

GH America spokesman Stephen Lindsey told Forbes that Sun's wind farm has received federal approval, and national security concerns have been sufficiently addressed through federal regulatory channels.

"It's being spun as a national security deal, but really what it is, is a way to say 'not in my backyard,'" he told Forbes.

As an environmental issue turned political, the story evolved and gained a central theme — a retired Chinese general buying a large piece of land near a US army base, and possibly spying for China.

Forbes reported that Sun was a retired captain from the People's Liberation Army — far from being a general.

The story quickly caught the attention of politicians in Texas. "China threats" were talked about, hearings were held, LSIPA was enacted last year, and SB 147 proposed.

Kolkhorst, the senator, said her SB 147 bill was prompted by concerns over "growing ownership" of land in Texas by foreign entities. "The time to address adversarial countries acquiring land is before this becomes widespread, not after they already control substantial amounts of Texas," she said.

However, The Texas Tribune reported that investors from China account for a tiny proportion of foreign-owned farmland in Texas and across the US.

According to the US Department of Agriculture's 2021 Land Report, Chinese investors own 154,994 hectares of farmland in the US — less than 1 percent of the land held by foreigners in the nation.

Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy account for more than 50 percent of foreign-owned agricultural land in Texas. Canada alone owns about 30 percent. No specific figure for China is available.