Chinese Purchases of U.S. Land Come Under Spotlight

One of the most important under-the-radar issues in the 2024 election could be the practice of Chinese nationals and companies buying up vast swaths of American land.

In recent months, a number of states, mostly led by conservatives, have taken action to halt the practice of Chinese entities buying large tracts of farmland, ranchland, and timber claims. However, without strong federal action, which President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats have been unwilling to pursue, the practice could continue to imperil America’s physical and economic security.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who in March signed a law that bars China and five other countries from purchasing farmland in her state, has warned that China is “buying up our entire food supply chain and when America can’t feed itself and we rely on another country to feed us it becomes a national security issue.” Montana, Virginia, North Dakota, and Florida are among other states that have passed similar bans.

But those efforts haven’t been enough to stop the growth in Chinese land acquisitions.

According to “The Land Report 100,” an annual ranking of the largest landowners in the United States that has been cited by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, this year a Chinese national made an appearance on the list for the first time. Tianqiao Chen, who moved to San Francisco in 2017 and is worth an estimated $4 billion, recently purchased nearly 200,000 acres of timber land in Oregon, putting him at number 82 on the list.

While the “official” narrative on Chen is that he made his fortune from founding online gaming company Shanda Interactive, sources with whom I spoke said that may not be the whole story.

One former high-ranking official in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who defected in the 1990s, Dr. Xiahou Li Wei, told me that the media has overlooked Chen’s membership in the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). According to the institution’s archived web pages, updated on June 29, 2017, Chen served two full terms with the CPPCC from 2008 to 2018.

Officially, the CPPCC exists to advise the CCP on governing matters. But Dr. Wei told me that it is an entity “from which top party elites are recruited” and that the CCP often entrusts its members “with special tasks, which include transferring and managing the wealth of Chinese leaders out of the country or financing assets for the CCP abroad.”

While Dr. Wei emphasized that he is not alleging at all that Chen is working on behalf of the CCP, the American people nonetheless deserve to know the background of Chinese nationals who are buying up land in their country.

Yeliu Fu, another defector who formerly worked in the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, told me that someone in Chen’s position on the CPPCC would likely be considered an “official” in the CCP rather than just a member.

Last year, Sun Guangxin, another Chinese billionaire, also bought more than 130,000 acres of farmland in Texas. According to the Daily Express US, Sun has “close ties to the CCP” and even opened a branch of the CCP in his company during the 1990s.

Professor Luli Jiao-long, a former CCP official who defected to the West, told me that this effort to park Chinese wealth in foreign assets, particularly in America, is nothing new. “A few years before Deng ordered the massacre of students” on Tiananmen Square, he said, Zhao Ziyang, former vice chairman of the CCP, “directed a mass exodus of Chinese assets abroad.”

Luli, who was involved with the effort, said the CCP “cooperated with more than 1,000 firms and individuals worldwide who helped us to park this wealth securely. The goal was to mix Chinese assets with foreign assets.” Luli said this strategy has continued through to today, and the CCP regularly looks for ways to gain more control over foreign assets. American land is particularly prized.

“A ban on non-citizen ownership of significant assets is the only bulletproof solution” Luli said, adding that examining foreign companies whose capital increases “in sharp, irregular intervals” is another strategy to determine if Chinese firms or individuals may be acting as agents of the CCP. “An individual who lived under a non-free regime must first learn liberties and appreciate America’s unique political system before acquiring U.S. wealth,” Dr. Wei added.

Every defector with whom I spoke agreed that the threat to American national security from purchases of U.S. land has increased dramatically in recent years. They advise that Congress put in place more barriers to Chinese nationals buying large amounts of land.

Last June, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress did vote for a measure requiring the Department of Agriculture to review the sale of land comprising more than 320 acres or valued at more than $5 million to Chinese, Iranian, North Korean, or Russian nationals. However, the ban excluded individuals from those countries who are legal residents of the United States.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to stop Chinese investment in U.S. farmland if he retakes the White House this fall. He has also pledged to stop Chinese nationals from owning telecommunications, energy, technology, and medical supply companies.

With few signs that Biden is willing to take similar action, the future of U.S. economic security and the ongoing competition with China could hang in the balance of November’s election.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.