Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley traded blows over China at Wednesday night's Republican presidential primary debate in Miami.
The GOP hopefuls – both jostling for second place behind former President Donald Trump – are competing to be the only viable Trump alternative headed into the Iowa caucuses in January. During the NBC debate, which focused on foreign affairs, they each accused the other of talking tough on China while inviting Chinese companies to invest in America.
DeSantis, responding after Haley called him out for not yet pledging to end formal trade relations with China over fentanyl, accused the former South Carolina governor of writing "the Chinese ambassador a love letter."
"She welcomed them into South Carolina, gave [China] land near a military base, wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter saying what a great friend they were," he said.
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DeSantis was referring to a letter Haley, who was governor from 2011 to 2017, sent to then-Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai on Dec. 30, 2014, in which she thanked the diplomat for congratulating her on her re-election and said she was "grateful" for China’s "contributions on the economic front."
Tiankai had written in his letter to Haley that China is "glad to see that the overall ties between China and South Carolina have been growing rapidly in recent years.… I look forward to continuing to work with you."
Reports released by the South Carolina Department of Commerce showed that capital investments by Chinese companies in the state increased during Haley's tenure from $307.8 million in 2011 to almost $669 million in 2015, according to Factcheck.org.
The 2014 correspondence resurfaced as Haley, who’s seen a big boost in polling in recent weeks, repeatedly said on the campaign trail that China is the "No. 1 biggest national security threat." Earlier this year, Haley, who also served as U.N. ambassador under President Trump, released a comprehensive plan to combat China.
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Haley's campaign fired back after the revelation, telling Fox News Digital, "Every governor in this campaign recruited Chinese businesses to their state."
"Nikki Haley did it 10 years ago. Just last year, Ron DeSantis let a U.S.-sanctioned Chinese company expand its footprint in Florida. DeSantis even voted to fast-track Obama’s bad trade deals. Nikki took on the Chinese threat every day as U.N. ambassador and has called for ending normal trade relations with China," campaign spokesman Ken Farnaso said.
Haley repeated this line of attack at Wednesday night's debate after acknowledging that she brought a Chinese fiberglass company to South Carolina, which she had at the time boasted would create 400 jobs. The company built a plant about five miles away from a U.S. military base, Fort Jackson, although the base is not on a list of sensitive military sites that would require government approval for land purchases by foreign entities within one mile of the facilities, according to a Washington Post fact-check.
"Ron, you are the chair of your economic development agency that, as of last week, said Florida is the ideal place for Chinese businesses," Haley said. "Not only that, you have a company that is a manufacturer of Chinese military planes. You have it. They are expanding two training sites at two of your airports now, one which is 12 miles away from a naval base."
"I abolished that agency that she's talking about," DeSantis shot back. "Enterprise Florida? We abolished it."
Enterprise Florida Inc. was an economic development agency established in 1996 to attract businesses to the state. Haley correctly stated that DeSantis, as governor of Florida, was chairman of a board of directors that governed the agency.
However, she quoted from an annual report released by the agency for the 2019/2020 fiscal year. The report said it had focused on "Positioning Florida as an ideal business destination for Chinese companies," but that report was outdated and does not necessarily reflect Florida's current position, according to Factcheck.org.
DeSantis in May signed a bill that consolidated Enterprise Florida Inc. into Florida's Department of Commerce, abolishing some of the agency's programs and shuffling others to different agencies.
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As for Haley's claim that a Chinese military plane manufacturer expanded two training sites at Florida airports, The New York Post reported that Cirrus Aircraft, a subsidiary of China-based Aviation Industry Corp (AVIC), opened two new locations in Florida in 2022.
AVIC makes fighter jets, helicopters and drones for the Chinese military. One of Cirrus Aircraft's new locations was at the Orlando Executive Airport, 12.7 miles away from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, according to the report.
The U.S. sanctioned AVIC in 2020 after deeming the company a possible national security threat. However, the federal government has not accused Cirrus of any wrongdoing and DeSantis has not commented publicly on the matter.
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To bolster his anti-China credentials, DeSantis reminded the debate audience he "banned China from buying land" in Florida.
"Not exactly a great recruiting pitch if you’re banning them from purchasing land at all," he said.
FOX Business' Paul Steinhauser and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
