By David Gay
CBS 4
INDIANAPOLIS — Officials with the campaign of Indiana Gubernatorial Candidate Brad Chambers recently released Chambers’ plan to “tackle the threat” he says China brings to the state of Indiana.
Chambers, a republican and the state’s former secretary of commerce, said he believes China’s increasing economic, military and technological power poses a threat to the United States and to the state of Indiana. Chambers’ “Combating China” plan is aimed at combating the “threat” of the county if Chambers is elected as Indiana’s governor.
In a new ad, Chambers said that China “is a threat” that cannot be ignored.
“We must protect Hoosier land, Hoosier intellectual property, private information and Hoosier health and lives,” Chambers said on his website. “We must also go on economic offense by continuing to lean into the strengths of our skilled workforce and world-class academic institutions to bolster Indiana’s role in ensuring the United States’ independence from China in the semiconductor industry.”
This comes after Indiana Gubernatorial Candidate Curtis Hill announced his plan surrounding farmland purchased by “adversarial” countries. According to previous reports, Hill said he would send a bill to the Indiana legislature to prohibit foreign state-owned companies from “adversarial countries,” specifically highlighting China at the time.
According to a news release from Chambers’ campaign, the “Combating China” plan includes:
- Prohibit the sale of Indiana real property that pose a threat to the United States
- If elected as governor, Chambers said he would work with the state legislature to ban countries that pose a threat to the United States, including China, from purchasing real property in Indiana, including farmland, as well as commercial and retail property.
- Protect Indiana’s intellectual property
- Chambers said he would prohibit the state’s public higher education institutions from licensing university-owned intellectual property to Chinese-owned firms. Chambers said he would also instruct various state agencies to prioritize the investigation of alleged intellectual property theft and work with the legislature to “strengthen penalties of stealing Hoosier intellectual property.”
- Address the “threat of Chinese-owned TikTok”
- Chambers said while the state has “made progress in this effort” by banning the app on state devices and in the state system, Chambers stressed he would aim to expand this if he is elected governor, prohibiting TikTok on any device or system purchased with state dollars.
- Chambers also said if state efforts to ban the app “are successful,” he would work with the state legislature to pass similar legislation that Montana passed into law. According to reports from The Hill, a Montana judge blocked a state ban on TikTok, stating that said the ban oversteps state power and “infringes on the Constitutional right of users and businesses.”
- Stop the fentanyl epidemic “supported by Chinese precursor chemicals”
- Chambers claimed that majority-owned and controlled Chinese firms are shipping precursor chemicals to the United States for individuals to manufacture fentanyl. Chambers said that this burdens the states regarding healthcare and public safety.
- Chambers cited his “Protect and Serve” plan, stating he would pursue the creation of regional, multi-disciplinary task forces to “tackle the fentanyl epidemic.”
- Bolster Indiana’s role in ensuring the United States’ independence from China in semiconductors
- If he is elected governor, Chambers said he would continue to leverage Indiana’s manufacturing sector to further attract semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Chambers also said he would continue to support the continued growth of the state’s academic and technical semiconductor training programs.
“My Combating China plan will ensure we protect Indiana and Hoosiers against foreign adversaries,” Chambers said, “including and especially China’s intellectual property theft, callous distribution of deadly fentanyl and the hypnotizing effects of TikTok while prioritizing Indiana’s competitiveness in the global economy and defending against the failures of the D.C. career politicians.”