Lawmakers are raising national-security concerns as Chinese companies buy agricultural land in the U.S., possibly for purposes of espionage.
Lawmakers are raising national-security concerns as Chinese companies buy agricultural land in the U.S., possibly for purposes of espionage.
C hinese companies are buying up farmland across the United States, raising concerns among lawmakers that the properties could be used for espionage.
By the beginning of 2020, Chinese companies possessed $1.9 billion in American agricultural land, amounting to approximately 192,000 acres of the almost 900 million acres of farmland in the U.S.
This year, Chinese conglomerate Fufeng Group purchased more than 300 acres of land near Grand Forks, N.D., to start a $700 million corn-milling plant. Fufeng Group’s land purchase is only about twelve miles away from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which houses important military-drone technology, as well as a new space-networking center. In its May staff research report, the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission cautioned that Fufeng Group has “ties to the Chinese government.” From the vantage point of their new farmland, the Chinese could theoretically intercept communications to and from the base, and they could secretly conduct electronic surveillance of the base, according to an Air Force officer who raised internal concerns earlier this year, CNBC reported. Gordon G. Chang points out in Newsweek that even if the company’s employees did not want to conduct espionage for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), “Articles 7 and 14 of China’s National Intelligence Law of 2017 require every Chinese national or entity to commit acts of espionage if the regime demands.”
Senators Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.), and John Hoeven (R., N.D.), meanwhile, sent a letter to Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Defense secretary Lloyd Austin this month requesting that the purchase be vetted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency government committee charged with overseeing acquisitions of strategic assets in the U.S. by foreign nationals. According to the senators, Fufeng Group is reportedly connected to the CCP. The senators wrote, “We believe that a full CFIUS review would clarify whether the purchase of this land, by Fufeng Group, carries national security implications.” On Monday, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum sent a letter to Yellen and Austin buttressing the requests of Senators Rubio, Cramer, and Hoeven, and imploring them to have CFIUS complete the review process with the “utmost urgency.” This is a shift from January, when the governor told the Grand Forks Herald that Fufeng Group will bring “jobs, facilities, economic activity and tax revenue” to North Dakota, not China. Also on Monday, the Grand Forks Committee of the Whole, a board made up of members of the City Council that is charged with discussing city business, among other things, voted 5–1 to go through with the deal. But the final approval will have to wait for an official City Council meeting expected next week.
The Chinese are interested not just in North Dakota. In 2021, a Chinese billionaire named Sun Guangxin purchased 140,000 acres of land in Val Verde County, Texas, near Laughlin Air Force Base, purportedly to build a wind farm. However, Texas lawmakers passed a law prohibiting foreign nationals from getting access to “critical infrastructure,” reportedly scrambling those plans. Chinese companies also have bought large swaths of land throughout Oklahoma, properties they turn into marijuana farms. Some companies allegedly then sell the marijuana on the black market.
Both Iowa’s and Minnesota’s state legislatures have already placed certain restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland in their states, and other states are pushing back in their own way. Florida governor Ron DeSantis plans to crack down on the practice, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham he doesn’t think that the Chinese should be able to buy American farmland. The governor continued, “I think the problem is these companies have ties to the CCP, and it’s not always apparent on the face of whatever a company is doing — but I think it’s a huge problem.” Representative Dan Newhouse (R., Wash.) introduced the “Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act” in May, which would ban foreign nationals associated with the Chinese government from purchasing public or private agricultural land in the U.S. The bill also would exclude these individuals or companies from involvement in any U.S. Department of Agriculture programs aside from food-safety inspections.
How have we allowed this to happen in the first place? We know that the Chinese government has attempted to spy on our country numerous times, for instance through their consulate in Houston, which was closed by former secretary of state Mike Pompeo after the Chinese attempted to steal U.S. trade secrets and scientific research. There should be no doubt that they are searching for different avenues through which to extract sensitive intelligence from our military.
Lawmakers should do more. Congress needs to involve CFIUS in all purchases of farmland by Chinese companies. The U.S. has a vested interest in ensuring that people and companies connected to the CCP are not acquiring strategic assets in the U.S. and, in the face of a global food crisis, we should not hand any of our farmland to our biggest adversary.