Investment by ND Paper, the U.S. subsidiary of Chinese paper giant Nine Dragons Paper Holdings, has lifted the area's struggling paper industry amid a decades-old decline of the business that once made Wisconsin the leading paper producer in America and America the leading paper producer in the world. It has also put the town under a spotlight given China’s designation by the Department of Commerce as a foreign adversary.
Across America, states are enacting legislation aimed at curbing the expansion of Chinese investment and interests on the grounds that these give access to critical infrastructure and resources to America’s main global challenger as it grows increasingly powerful around the world, extending its reach deep into the United States through networks of groups with Chinese Communist Party links and through influence operations and business ties.
But the Chinese companies are pushing back—and they have allies on the ground.
