Written in Granite: Some states wary of foreign investments
Legislative action?
Seriously?
To be honest, I never gave it much thought that the CCP, or Chinese Communist Party, could try to gain control of certain New Hampshire properties and use them for ill intent. But some folks at New Hampshire’s Statehouse are taking a closer look. The Committee to Study the Acquisition of Land by China recently held its first meeting to discuss the possibility of Chinese entities purchasing real estate in the beautiful Granite State and then, potentially trying to infiltrate our infrastructure and/or military.
State Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, and other committee members aren’t accusing the CCP or anyone of trying to harm New Hampshire. However, there are concerns about potential properties that could be bought around facilities like the Space Force Station in New Boston or the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Granite State lawmakers aren’t the only elected leaders interested in monitoring real estate sales to foreign adversaries. According to the Heritage Foundation, “Twenty-four states already regulate foreign land purchases, with some states doing so in the text of their constitutions.”
All of New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) currently allows foreign land ownership.
An online article by Bryan Burack, a Senior Policy Advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at The Heritage Foundation, added that state governments and federal national security agencies should watch their backs as China and the U.S. sink deeper into a New Cold War.
“It is imperative that state and federal lawmakers ensure that they have the capability to monitor, review, and, when necessary, prohibit transactions in U.S. farmland and other real estate that pose a national security threat.”
Maybe lawmakers should tread lightly before considering legislative action. Chinese companies already do business with New Hampshire and bring economic advantages to our state. Rep. Carry Spier, D-Nashua, shared her perspective with the committee and made a thoughtful point:
“When you ban anything from China, you can’t tell who a Chinese person is from the CCP or from the United States. And I’m so worried about putting a target on the back of any Asian-American who happens to live in New Hampshire.”
Meantime, here in Nashua, former Daniel Webster College remains a bit of an enigma. The 53-acre property features a handsome chunk of land next door to Boire Field, the city’s airport. A Chinese businessman, Sui Liu, purchased the non-operating college campus, a former aviation school, for nearly $12 million in October 2017 during a bankruptcy sale.
For several years, the former campus at 20 University Dr. has appeared mostly vacant and overgrown. Some residents were wondering what the property’s new purpose would be. I drove by there recently and snapped a photo of former Daniel Webster Hall.
I found information online about the once-popular college campus. According to NHCompanyRegistry.com, Xinhua Education Consulting Services Corporation was registered here on Jan. 3, 2018, as a foreign-profit corporation type. In 2023, the company status was reported as “Good Standing.”
There are 4 officer records listed, including Sui Liu, David Lu, Ronghai Liu and David Z. Lu. The business address they have on record is based in Vienna, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Xinhua Education Consulting Services Corporation “has been operating for 6 years 8 months, and 16 days since it registered.” That information was reported on March 6, 2023, by NHCompanyRegistry.com.
I tried contacting Director Sui Liu and Chief Administration Officer David Z. Lu but did not hear from either party at the time of writing this column.
I have since learned that the owner is now leasing parts of the campus. One of these “tenants” is the aerospace business Rotor Technologies. The company specializes in heavy-lift drones for utility and agricultural applications.