U.S. States Shape Foreign Policy Amid National China Unease: Research

Florida and Texas lie at the other end of the spectrum, Jaros said, adopting confrontational policies that curb contact between state institutions (such as government or universities) and China. Florida, for example, now restricts Chinese citizens’ and businesses’ abilities to purchase land or real estate in the state, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has publicly articulated his concern that the Communist party is infiltrating Florida’s institutions.

In Indiana, the picture is more complicated, according to Jaros and Newland’s in-depth case study of the state, which was included in the research.

“Until 2022, Indiana engaged fairly regularly with official Chinese counterparts, even as concerns and criticisms from some quarters increased,” Jaros said. “While some forms of low-key economic and educational cooperation are continuing today, many areas that once seemed appropriate or safe are now seen by Indiana officials as off-limits or dangerous.”

For years, Indiana has pursued state-level cooperation with China, as the state is home to several major corporations, including leading pharmaceutical and engineering companies, that see the Chinese market as crucial to their overall strategy. In addition, numerous small businesses see China as a crucial part of their supply chain, relying on it as a sizable export market.

And yet, last year, Indiana state legislators voted to divest the state’s pension fund from China, and the state has banned new sister city relationships with China. In 2021, state Attorney General Todd Rokita launched an investigation into Valparaiso University’s Confucius Institute, alleging that it functioned as a propaganda arm for the Chinese Communist Party.

Jaros has met with the State Department’s Subnational Diplomacy Unit about his work, and he and Newland are studying how the federal government can help U.S. states and cities coordinate knowledge-sharing and also how it can provide useful information to lower levels of government.

In his capacity as a Truman fellow, Jaros is also expanding the research to include city-level diplomacy. This summer, he and Newland, who is also a Truman fellow, will meet with city officials, chamber of commerce members and other local groups in Los Angeles; Hartford, Connecticut; Des Moines, Iowa; and Jacksonville, Florida.

“We will solicit views from the local level both for their own sake and also to bring some of it back to share with policymakers in Washington, to help them have a better awareness of how what they are doing affects local communities,” Jaros said.

A fellow of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations’ Public Intellectuals Program, Jaros regularly briefs state and local officials on the U.S.-China relationship. In April, he delivered a presentation at the committee’s subnational symposium, held in coordination with the University of Michigan.

Jaros said the next stage of the research includes examining the consequences of what is happening at the state level, including its policy implications.

“We see policy impacts at several different levels: city, state and federal,” he said. “This work has implications for how cities and states think about what kinds of interactions with China are appropriate right now and what kinds of caution are needed.”

Renée LaReau is a member of the Keough School’s central marketing and communications team. The article was originally published by Renée LaReau at keough.nd.edu on 21 June 21, then posted to the website of The University of Notre Dame.