From Cooperation to Conflict: Public Opinion, Parasecurity, and US States’ Divestment from China

Citing security concerns, many US states have recently divested or announced plans to divest from the People's Republic of China. This article explores how public opinion views such divestments. Responses to a high-quality national survey show baseline opposition to investing state funds in Chinese firms is pronounced, particularly among Republicans and older voters. Experimental results, however, show that warnings about financial losses, geopolitical tensions, and anti-Asian hate crimes can significantly reduce support for divestment policies. The effects for hate crimes are particularly strong when warnings come from an Asian-American source compared to a White one. I argue that these security-motivated divestments represent an example of a distinctive form of subnational foreign policy in which subnational units assert security interests against external threats, which I call “parasecurity.” This research demonstrates how studying public opinion contributes to understanding paradiplomacy in an era of increasing great-power competition.