Chinese Cash, Influence Continue Shaping Arizona Politics

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs garnered national headlines on June 2 when she vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would have barred China’s communist government from owning land near military installations in the Grand Canyon State.

On the surface, it is a shocking move. Attempts on the state and local level to thwart the growth of China’s already sizable footprint within the US interior have flourished in recent years. And the proposed bill in Arizona clearly identified the stark national security implications involved.

“The actual Chinese government, our enemy, was trying to lease buildings near the (Luke Air Force) base,” located about 15 miles outside of Phoenix, bill sponsor Republican Sen. Janae Shamp said during a floor debate on the legislation in February. But in her veto letter to the state senate, Hobbs declared that the bill “lacks clear implementation criteria and opens the door to arbitrary enforcement.”

Those last two words are meant to imply discrimination. Once again, a sitting Democratic governor is leaning on progressive tropes about racism and social injustice to stand in the way of legislation meant to address an issue of obvious pressing concern to the national interest. But that isn’t the half of it.

For most of the 21st century, prominent Arizona political figures have been openly cozying up to communist China as that nation, widely considered to be the number one geopolitical foe of the United States today, meticulously carved out a powerful economic standing within the state’s borders. This effort, all done in the name of promoting “business” and “trade,” has been the handiwork of both Democrats and Republicans.