China and other foreign adversaries seek to gain access to and control over America’s critical infrastructure by providing subsidized telecommunications equipment, port cranes, and power transformers that allow “back door” control over these assets that Americans rely upon every day.
States must remove any equipment and infrastructure built, powered by, or dependent on foreign adversaries. They must also prohibit investment in state critical infrastructure by foreign adversaries, increase security protections to critical infrastructure, prohibit land sales to adversarial nations, and require the resale of land currently owned by foreign adversaries, particularly when that land is near military installations.
When state and local governments make purchases, they should source products and services from free nations. Not only does this set a positive example for the private sector, it protects state security and grows an economy that fosters free-nation vendors.
The coronavirus pandemic provided a harsh lesson on the cost of reliance on adversaries like China. First, China’s government concealed information about the emerging pandemic and cut off medical supplies to American buyers. Then, China’s government mouthpieces even went so far as to threaten to cut off America’s supply of antibiotics if Americans kept demanding an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
American national security is at risk when we rely upon critical products from adversaries. Companies from adversarial nations and companies sanctioned by the U.S. should have no place in state procurement processes – either directly or through third-party vendors. States should immediately tighten vendor requirements for public procurement, especially for sensitive products like computers.
These malicious operations are found across American life, whether it’s harassment of students and scholars on campus, illegal police stations in American cities, the flood of fentanyl across our borders, or financial flows that give foreign adversaries leverage over American institutions. Even the apps on our phones, the movies we watch, and in some cases K-12 education are influenced by foreign adversaries in ways that strain America’s social fabric. State leaders must take immediate action to stop it.
According to widespread media reports, China’s leader told President Biden directly that he intends to conquer Taiwan.
To prepare for this potential disruption, states should audit procurement supply chains in order to assess the risk of disruption in the event of a Pacific conflict, and create a contingency plan against the risk of supply chain disruption.
