‘The Threat Is Very Real to Us Every Single Day’: Gov. Noem on Danger China Poses to American Agriculture

Over 2,500 years ago, a renowned Chinese strategist launched trade wars—food wars, more specifically—to conquer other states. A similar scenario in which communist China dominates the world through food security is what U.S. lawmakers are trying to avoid by holding a hearing on Wednesday about “the danger China poses to American agriculture.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem told lawmakers, “The threat is very real to us every single day.” According to her, Chinese nationals contacted her state’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources last summer, “wishing to meet, tour, and have conversations about how we process and grow our food.” She said her staffers declined the meetings and learned days later from the State Department that those Chinese were spies “trying to steal our Intellectual Property and crop genetics.”...