Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R., Ark.) is investigating whether a company her administration claims has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is buying land near Ebbing Air National Guard Base — and her leadership is leading to calls for other governors to follow suit.

Sanders’s actions follow Arkansas law, which bans “prohibited foreign-party controlled business[es]” from acquiring either public or private land in the state.

The company, 4811 S Zero Street, LLC, “may be operating in violation” of Arkansas’s anti-CCP land purchasing law, Sanders’s administration found. She requested that Attorney General Tim Griffin look into if the company has improper ties to the CCP and “if so, commence appropriate legal action.” Sanders was the first governor to kick out a CCP-owned company off of farmland in America, when she forced a CCP subsidiary to relinquish 160 acres in Arkansas. Her latest actions were first reported by the Washington Reporter.

“Communist China is America’s greatest adversary,” Sanders told the Reporter. “I won’t let them buy up land close to our military installations and spy on our nation’s defense assets.” Arkansans and China hawks lauded Sanders’s decision.

“We cannot allow malign ownership of American assets, especially so close to one of our most critical military installations. Once again, Arkansas is taking the lead on a nationwide issue that is so vital to our national security,” Rep. Bruce Westerman (R., Ark.) told the Reporter. Both of Arkansas’s senators, Tom Cotton and John Boozman, also praised Sanders’s leadership in countering the CCP. 

China has for years purchased land across America in strategically important locations. Sanders wants to make that impossible in Arkansas, saying that she’ll “gladly do it again to protect Arkansas’ Ebbing Air National Guard Base, which will soon be home to one of the world’s leading F-35 training programs.” 

Rep. Rick. Crawford (R., Ark.) told the Reporter that “as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I can attest that China’s espionage is deep and broad and that our ability to counter it is limited due to our system of government.” 

“As demonstrated by the recent joint Chinese-Russian military exercises near Alaska, socialist countries have a target on America and are not even concealing it, which further evidences the justification for Governor Sanders’ swift action,” Crawford said.

Sanders’s actions drew praise from Republicans from across the country. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R., Fla.), who is on both the Select Committee on China and the Homeland Security Committee told the Reporter that every state should “adopt similar measures to protect themselves from the nefarious intentions of Communist China and its proxies in America.”

“At a time when the United States is engaged in great power competition with the murderous regime in Communist China, we must utilize every tool at our disposal to protect and defend the integrity of our military and national security, maintain military dominance, and maximize our global military readiness,” Gimenez added, further noting that “on the Select Committee on China, I have led efforts to decouple entirely from the CCP.”

Read the full letter HERE.