[2023-02-08] 纽约时报 - 美中紧张局势如何影响谁在隔壁买房

 


States are pursuing bills to bar Chinese citizens and companies from purchasing land. In Texas, legislation backed by Gov. Greg Abbott brought opposition from Democrats in the state’s growing cities and suburbs.
各州正在寻求禁止中国公民和公司购买土地的法案。 在得克萨斯州，州长格雷格·阿博特支持的立法在该州不断发展的城市和郊区遭到民主党人的反对。

 

HOUSTON — After a Chinese billionaire with plans to create a wind farm bought up more than 130,000 acres of Texas land, some of it near a U.S. Air Force base, the state responded with a ban on such infrastructure projects by those with direct ties to China.
休斯敦——在一位计划建立风电场的中国亿万富翁购买了德克萨斯州超过 130,000 英亩的土地（其中一些位于美国空军基地附近）之后，该州的回应是禁止与中国有直接联系的人进行此类基础设施项目 .

Now, a Republican state senator is proposing to broaden the ban, seeking to stop Chinese citizens and companies from buying land, homes or any other real estate in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott announced his support last month: “I will sign it,” he wrote without equivocation on Twitter.
现在，一名共和党州参议员提议扩大禁令范围，试图阻止中国公民和公司在德克萨斯州购买土地、房屋或任何其他房地产。 州长 Greg Abbott 上个月宣布了他的支持：“我会签署它，”他在 Twitter 上毫不含糊地写道。

His endorsement underscored just how important foreign land ownership, particularly by Chinese buyers, has become as a political issue, not just in Texas but across the country.
他的支持凸显了外国土地所有权，尤其是中国买家的土地所有权，已成为一个政治问题的重要性，不仅在德克萨斯州，而且在全国范围内。

Tensions have been rising between the United States and China over a range of issues, including international trade, recognition of Taiwan and the war in Ukraine. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken abruptly canceled a planned weekend trip to China — the first by a U.S. secretary of state since 2018 — after the discovery of what U.S. officials described as a Chinese surveillance balloon drifting over the American heartland. (On Saturday, a U.S. fighter jet shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.)
美国和中国在国际贸易、承认台湾和乌克兰战争等一系列问题上的紧张关系不断升级。 周五，美国国务卿安东尼·J·布林肯 (Antony J. Blinken) 突然取消了计划中的中国周末之行——这是自 2018 年以来美国国务卿首次访问中国——此前发现了美国官员所说的中国监视气球漂浮在美国腹地上空。 （周六，一架美国战斗机在南卡罗来纳州海岸击落了气球。）

The geopolitical strain has fueled calls for a more aggressive approach to Chinese investments in the United States with an eye on security.
地缘政治压力促使人们呼吁在着眼于安全的情况下对中国在美国的投资采取更积极的态度。

“We don’t want to have holdings by hostile nations,” Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said in a news conference last month. Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia made it part of his State of the Commonwealth speech soon after, urging lawmakers in his state to prevent “dangerous foreign entities” tied to the Chinese government from purchasing farmland.
“我们不想让敌对国家拥有资产，”佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯 (Ron DeSantis) 上个月在新闻发布会上说。 不久之后，弗吉尼亚州州长格伦·杨金 (Glenn Youngkin) 将其作为他的英联邦国情咨文的一部分，敦促他所在州的立法者阻止与中国政府有联系的“危险的外国实体”购买农田。

Chinese owners have very slowly expanded their holdings in U.S. agricultural land in recent decades, but the increasingly hostile political climate has made the topic a rising concern, with at least 11 states considering some form of new legislation related to foreign ownership of farmland or real estate, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
近几十年来，中国所有者在美国农业土地上的持有量增长非常缓慢，但日益敌对的政治气候使这一话题日益受到关注，至少有 11 个州正在考虑制定某种形式的与外国对农田或房地产所有权相关的新立法 , 根据全国州议会会议。

Some of the new and proposed laws go beyond targeting Chinese nationals to broadly take aim at ownership by all foreign governments, businesses and new immigrants. Other laws, like the one under consideration in Texas, single out countries seen as particular security threats, including Russia, Iran and North Korea, in addition to China.
一些新的和拟议的法律不仅针对中国公民，还广泛地针对所有外国政府、企业和新移民的所有权。 其他法律，例如得克萨斯州正在考虑的法律，将被视为特别安全威胁的国家挑出来，除了中国之外，还包括俄罗斯、伊朗和朝鲜。

 

Nor are Republican lawmakers the only ones challenging foreign land ownership. In California, a bill to rein in foreign ownership of farmland passed both Democratically controlled houses last year. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat, said it was an effort to stop the purchases while trying to better understand the motivation behind them.
共和党立法者也不是唯一挑战外国土地所有权的人。 在加利福尼亚州，一项控制外国对农田所有权的法案去年通过了民主党控制的两院。 该法案的发起人、民主党参议员梅利莎·乌尔塔多 (Melissa Hurtado) 表示，这是为了阻止购买，同时试图更好地了解购买背后的动机。

“Something doesn’t smell right,” she said in an interview. Other Democrats, including in Congress, have proposed legislation to increase the oversight of foreign agricultural land purchases.
“有些东西闻起来不对劲，”她在接受采访时说。 包括国会在内的其他民主党人已提议立法加强对外国农业土地购买的监督。

Lawmakers have expressed concern over the security of the nation’s food supply and worry that several land purchases were deliberately made near American military bases. Late last month, the U.S. Air Force weighed in on a Chinese company’s purchase of a corn mill in North Dakota, not far from a base, declaring it a “significant threat.”
立法者对国家食品供应的安全表示担忧，并担心在美国军事基地附近故意购买几块土地。 上个月末，美国空军介入了一家中国公司在北达科他州购买一家离基地不远的玉米磨坊的交易，宣布这是一个“重大威胁”。

Though the government did not specify the nature of the threat, beyond “near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area,” community leaders speculated that the mill could be used for spying on the Air Force, which the company denied.
尽管政府没有具体说明威胁的性质，但除了“对我们在该地区的行动造成重大影响的近期和长期风险”之外，社区领袖推测该工厂可能被用于监视空军， 公司否认。

State Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst, the sponsor of the Texas bill, said in a statement that foreign land ownership had become an issue in her district, a mostly rural area stretching west and south of Houston.
得克萨斯州法案的发起人、州参议员 Lois W. Kolkhorst 在一份声明中表示，外国土地所有权已成为她选区的一个问题，该选区主要是休斯顿西部和南部的农村地区。

“One of the top concerns for many Texans is national security and the growing ownership of Texas land by certain adversarial foreign entities,” Senator Kolkhorst said, referring to the Chinese purchase of the land near an Air Force base near Del Rio, Texas, for a proposed wind farm.
“许多德克萨斯人最关心的问题之一是国家安全和某些敌对的外国实体越来越多地拥有德克萨斯州的土地，”参议员 Kolkhorst 说，他指的是中国购买德克萨斯州德尔里奥附近空军基地附近的土地，用于 一个拟建的风电场。

But the legislative push, while in some cases bipartisan, has largely brought opposition from Democratic elected leaders. The California bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. In Texas, Democratic leaders said the broad measure now before the Legislature appeared to be prompted more by a rising anti-China political environment than by any legitimate concern over espionage or foreign ownership of the food supply.
加州法案被州长加文·纽瑟姆否决。 在得克萨斯州，民主党领导人表示，目前提交立法机关的广泛措施似乎更多是由于反华政治环境的加剧，而不是出于对间谍活动或食品供应的外国所有权的任何合理担忧。

 

The bill as currently written would make it impossible for the large number of Chinese immigrants who have come to work in the tech sector or study at Texas universities to do something as basic as buy a home. It would not affect those who already own such property.
目前制定的法案将使大量来到科技行业工作或在德克萨斯大学学习的中国移民无法做一些像买房这样基本的事情。 它不会影响那些已经拥有此类财产的人。

“Through the years I have helped a lot of Chinese immigrants purchase their homes in Houston, and a lot of them had been working toward their citizenship for years,” Kevin Yu, a green card holder and a real estate agent in Houston, said at a protest. “These people can be engineers, medical doctors, accountants and teachers.” The proposed bill in Texas, he said, would “take American dreams away from these people, including my family.”
“多年来，我帮助很多中国移民在休斯敦购房，他们中的很多人多年来一直在为获得公民身份而努力，”绿卡持有者、休斯敦的房地产经纪人 Kevin Yu 在接受采访时说。 抗议。 “这些人可以是工程师、医生、会计师和教师。” 他说，得克萨斯州拟议的法案将“剥夺这些人的美国梦，包括我的家人。”

A 2021 census survey estimated that about 150,000 foreign-born Chinese are living in Texas, a larger population than any of the other nationalities targeted by the proposed ban.
2021 年的一项人口普查估计，大约有 15 万在外国出生的华人居住在德克萨斯州，这一人数超过拟议禁令所针对的任何其他民族。

Protesters have rallied against the bill in Houston and Dallas in recent weeks, saying that the legislative efforts could worsen the climate of anti-Asian violence and could be easily extended to include other immigrant groups.
最近几周，抗议者在休斯顿和达拉斯集会反对该法案，称立法努力可能会加剧反亚裔暴力的气氛，并且很容易扩大到包括其他移民群体。

State Representative Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat, said he supported laws targeting foreign corporations with ties to the government from buying certain property. “That’s fine,” said Mr. Wu, who was born in Guangzhou, China, and immigrated to Texas with his family as a child. “But the difference is this bill. This bill attacks individuals, private people with no connections with other governments other than being from that country.”
休斯敦民主党州众议员吴恩（Gene Wu）表示，他支持针对与政府有联系的外国公司购买某些财产的法律。 “那很好，”吴先生说，他出生在中国广州，小时候随家人移民到德克萨斯州。 “但不同之处在于这项法案。 该法案攻击除了来自那个国家之外与其他政府没有任何联系的个人和私人。”

 

Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas who are watching the bill’s progress said the measure was likely to run afoul of the federal government’s prerogative to manage relations with other nations, and that it was unconstitutional.
正在关注该法案进展的德克萨斯州美国公民自由联盟的律师表示，该措施可能会与联邦政府管理与其他国家关系的特权发生冲突，而且这是违宪的。

“The discriminatory bill would prohibit members of our communities from participating in the Texas economy, including dual citizens and legal permanent residents, such as green card holders,” said David Donatti, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Texas.
“这项歧视性法案将禁止我们社区的成员参与德克萨斯经济，包括双重公民和合法永久居民，例如绿卡持有者，”美国公民自由联盟的律师大卫·多纳蒂 (David Donatti) 说。 得克萨斯州。

Some legal scholars were also skeptical. “Such a bill would raise a host of constitutional issues,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at the University of Texas. Because the measure does not distinguish between targeting people who are already here and those outside the United States, he said, it raises “serious due process and equal protection issues.”
一些法律学者也持怀疑态度。 “这样的法案会引发一系列宪法问题，”德克萨斯大学宪法学教授斯蒂芬 I. 弗拉德克 (Stephen I. Vladeck) 说。 他说，由于该措施没有区分针对已经在美国境内的人和针对美国境外的人，因此引发了“严重的正当程序和平等保护问题”。

In response to an inquiry from The New York Times, Senator Kolkhorst said in a statement that she would amend her bill “to include a provision that will make crystal clear that the prohibitions do not apply to United States citizens and lawful permanent residents.”
Kolkhorst 参议员在一份声明中回应纽约时报的询问时说，她将修改她的法案，“加入一项条款，明确规定这些禁令不适用于美国公民和合法永久居民。”

That would mean, presumably, that Chinese green card holders would be entitled to buy property but more recent immigrants, or those on temporary work visas, would not.
据推测，这意味着中国绿卡持有人将有权购买房产，但新移民或持有临时工作签证的人则无权购买房产。

The emerging battle over the bill in Texas comes amid rising attention, particularly from Republicans but also from Democrats, to the role of Chinese-owned companies in American life, including bans in several states on the use of the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok on many college campuses and government devices.
得克萨斯州围绕该法案的新争论正值越来越多的关注，尤其是共和党人和民主党人对中资企业在美国人生活中的作用的关注，包括几个州禁止使用中资社交媒体平台 TikTok 在许多大学校园和政府设备上。

But the issue presents complicated crosscurrents. For example, at the same time that Mr. Abbott is backing the sweeping ownership ban on real estate purchases, Texas has also celebrated the state’s “strong economic relationship with China,” including billions of dollars in direct investment by Chinese companies.
但这个问题呈现出复杂的矛盾。 例如，在阿博特先生支持全面禁止购买房地产的同时，得克萨斯州还庆祝该州“与中国的牢固经济关系”，包括中国公司的数十亿美元直接投资。

The share of United States farmland owned by Chinese people and companies is small and has not been growing substantially. Chinese owners held about 350,000 acres at the end of 2020, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, and most of the farmland came from the Chinese acquisition of Smithfield Foods in 2013. Canadian owners, by contrast, held 12.4 million acres.
中国人和公司拥有的美国农田份额很小，而且一直没有大幅增长。 根据美国农业部的一份报告，截至 2020 年底，中国所有者拥有约 35 万英亩土地，其中大部分农田来自中国在 2013 年收购史密斯菲尔德食品公司。相比之下，加拿大所有者拥有 1240 万英亩土地。

The figures do not include residential or commercial buildings, though that has largely not been the focus of most legislative efforts. Chinese investors are among the top foreign purchasers of residential real estate, along with Canadians, according to the National Association of Realtors.
这些数字不包括住宅或商业建筑，尽管这在很大程度上并不是大多数立法工作的重点。 根据全国房地产经纪人协会的数据，中国投资者与加拿大人一样是住宅房地产的最大外国买家。

Other states have had concerns over foreign ownership of land and have made efforts to regulate it. Some states, including Minnesota and Iowa, have enacted bans on foreign ownership of agricultural land, and a larger number place restrictions on such purchases. The Oklahoma Constitution limits land ownership to U.S. citizens. Those laws, unlike the proposal in Texas, do not single out citizens of particular countries.
其他州对外国土地所有权表示担忧，并努力对其进行监管。 一些州，包括明尼苏达州和爱荷华州，已经颁布禁止外国拥有农业用地的禁令，并且更多的州对此类购买施加了限制。 俄克拉荷马州宪法将土地所有权限制在美国公民手中。 与得克萨斯州的提案不同，这些法律不会单独针对特定国家/地区的公民。

In Canada, a sweeping ban on foreign ownership of residential property went into effect this year — a move that the country’s liberal leadership said was aimed at curbing soaring housing prices.
在加拿大，今年全面禁止外资拥有住宅物业的禁令开始生效——该国的自由派领导人称此举旨在遏制房价飙升。

However, the proposed ban in Texas, endorsed by Mr. Abbott, appears to go further than the laws adopted in other U.S. states, both in applying to all “real property” — including urban buildings or condominium apartments — and in applying its provisions not only to the governments of certain countries but also to their citizens.
然而，得克萨斯州拟议的禁令得到阿博特先生的支持，似乎比美国其他州通过的法律走得更远，无论是在适用于所有“不动产”——包括城市建筑或公寓——还是在适用其规定方面， 不仅对某些国家的政府而且对他们的公民。

During its last session, in 2021, the Texas Legislature barred companies from the same list of countries targeted in the new proposed law from winning contracts that relate to “critical infrastructure” in the state, including the electricity grid, water treatment plants, and cybersecurity and communications systems.
在 2021 年的最后一届会议上，得克萨斯州立法机关禁止来自新拟议法律所针对的相同国家/地区名单的公司赢得与该州“关键基础设施”相关的合同，包括电网、水处理厂和网络安全 和通信系统。

That bill came in response to the plan by the Chinese billionaire, Sun Guangxin, to construct a wind farm that would have connected to the Texas electricity grid. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the State Senate, and Mr. Abbott signed it.
该法案是对中国亿万富翁孙广新建设一个与德克萨斯电网相连的风电场的计划的回应。 该法案在州参议院的两党支持下获得通过，阿博特先生签署了该法案。

A representative of Mr. Sun did not respond to a request for comment.
孙先生的代表没有回应置评请求。

Last month, more than a hundred people joined the rally against the latest proposal on the steps of Houston City Hall, a diverse coalition that included local officials and members of Congress.
上个月，一百多人参加了反对休斯顿市政厅台阶上最新提案的集会，这是一个包括地方官员和国会议员在内的多元化联盟。

“This is wrong,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said, standing at the rally with Mr. Wu, who grew up in a house his parents purchased after immigrating to Texas but before they became citizens.
“这是错误的，”市长西尔维斯特·特纳 (Sylvester Turner) 和吴先生一起站在集会上说，吴先生是在父母移民到得克萨斯之后但在成为公民之前购买的房子里长大的。

“This could be my family’s home, this could be yours,” the mayor said, pointing to an image of the home, in an area of the city now represented by Mr. Wu.
“这可能是我家人的家，也可能是你家的，”市长指着一张家的照片说，该地区现在由吴先生代表。

标红字体均为楼主更改，与原文作者无关。

哈哈哈哈，瞧把图片里的傻逼们急得。

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