Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was hammered by fellow candidates during the third presidential debate Wednesday for reportedly allowing a Chinese firm that produces equipment for China’s military to expand its presence in Florida just 15 miles away from a U.S. military base under his watch.
DeSantis first accused former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of welcoming China into South Carolina and giving them land near a military base. The Florida governor went on to claim, “I banned China from buying land in this state, and we kicked out some other universities and we kicked the Confucius Institutes out of our universities we’ve recognized the threat and we’ve acted swiftly and decisively.”
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy then accused DeSantis of hypocrisy for allowing a Chinese firm to expand near a U.S. military base in Florida. Ramaswamy stated:
Ron DeSantis was correct about acknowledging Nikki Haley’s tough talk when she was Ambassador to the UN calling China ‘Our great friend,’ bringing the CCP to South Carolina.
When you left out, though, Ron and be honest about it — there was a lobbying-based exemption in that bill that allowed Chinese nationals to by land within a 20-mile radius of a military base lobbied for by one of your donors. So I think we have to call a spade a spade.
Then Haley hit back at DeSantis.
“Yes, I brought a fiberglass company 10 years ago to South Carolina. But Ron, you are the chair of your economic development agency that as of last week, said Florida is the ideal place for Chinese businesses,” she said. Haley added:
Not only that, you have a company that is a manufacturer of Chinese military planes…they are expanding to training sites at two of your airports now — one which is 12 miles away from a naval base. Then you have another company that’s expanding, and they were just invaded by the Department of Homeland Security. So mine was 10 years ago. What’s your story?
DeSantis protested as Haley was speaking, but did not address the issue again later and the debate moved on.
Last week, the New York Post reported that the Chinese firm, Cirrus Aircraft — a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corp. (AVIC) of China — had opened two new locations in central Florida in 2022. One of the locations was at the Orlando Executive Airport, only 12.7 miles away from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division.
The Chinese firm, AVIC, makes fighter jets, helicopters, and drones for the Chinese military, and in 2020, the U.S. sanctioned AVIC as a possible national security threat.
According to the Post, DeSantis said nothing publicly about the expansion of Cirrus in his state, and even delivered remarks in front of a Cirrus SR 22 aircraft while criticizing President Biden’s response to the Chinese spy balloon fiasco in February.
Experts told the Post the company could pose a national security risk to the U.S. due to its connection to AVIC.
“It is unnecessarily risky to allow subsidiary companies of Chinese firms that have been listed as sanctioned to operate,” Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, told the Post.
Another expert, Kari Bingen, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Aerospace Security Project, told the Post, “Even with a subsidiary I would want to understand: Who is on the board of directors? To what degree does the parent company have control, provide direction, receive information from the subsidiary?”
The report noted that Cirrus filed a prospectus in June with the Hong Kong stock exchange that showed ties between Cirrus employees and other AVIC subsidiaries sanctioned by the U.S.
For example, the report noted that Cirrus Vice-Chairman Hui Wang is also a director of AVIC Heavy Machinery Co., which is sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department and listed by the Pentagon as a Chinese military company, as reported by Bloomberg. Another Cirrus executive is on the board of two U.S.-sanctioned AVIC subsidiaries, Bloomberg also reported.
Cirrus spokesperson Nadia Haidar defended itself in a statement to the Post: “US laws strictly prohibit sharing any information that would pose a risk to US national security, and Cirrus Aircraft complies with all US laws and regulations.”
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