GEIS-新闻详情

Florida’s anti-Chinese law driven by domestic politics, faces legal challenge

2023-07-16 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-世界原网页

WASHINGTON - Next Tuesday, a judge in Florida will hear a challenge to a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May that bans Chinese nationals or Chinese who have “domicile” in China from buying property in the state.

Critics see Florida Senate Bill 264, which took effect on July 1, as Mr DeSantis’ attempt to burnish his nationalist credentials as he runs for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2024 election.

They also see it as an example of how geopolitical competition with China and anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States can turn into xenophobia when stoked by domestic politics.

The law has been compared with the infamous 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the only major US law ever implemented to prevent a specific national group from immigrating to the US.

But expectations are that the judge will grant an injunction – though that itself will also be appealed against, in what could be a long legal to and fro.

On June 27, the Department of Justice (DOJ) weighed in, saying “unlawful provisions” in the law “will cause serious harm to people simply because of their national origin, contravene federal civil rights laws, undermine constitutional rights, and will not advance the State’s purported goal of increasing public safety”.

“Florida has yet to identify any legitimate connection between protecting the state and prohibiting individuals who simply come from ‘foreign countries of concern’ from purchasing or owning real property,” it said.

The law has sent a chill through Chinese Americans.

“My community, lots of people, are scared,” said Ms Echo King, an attorney based in Orlando, Florida.

“The reality will be that any seller, when they see a Chinese name... will think ‘Too much trouble’, and they’ll refuse to sell,” she told the journal Vox in May.

Under the new law, individuals who were born in China but are not yet US citizens or green card holders cannot purchase or own any land or building, commercial or otherwise, in Florida.

The law – which is not retroactive – lists “countries of concern”, which besides China include Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria and Venezuela.

But it is obvious that the real target is China.

“Today is one example of Florida really leading the nation in terms of what we’re doing to stop the influence of the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr DeSantis had said at a press conference on May 8, the day he signed the law.