Who owns America: Congress and states seek to ‘blacklist’ Chinese land ownership

n the United States is a national security threat that we need to take seriously,” Johnson added.

Cracking Down on Chinese Ownership of U.S. Farmland

Lawmakers at both the federal and state level are taking action to address the growing concern over Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland. Recent events, such as the shootdown of a Chinese spy balloon off the Atlantic coast and Chinese purchases of land near U.S. military bases, have highlighted the need for increased scrutiny and regulation.

WHO OWNS AMERICA? SHORTCOMINGS IN CHINESE FOREIGN OWNERSHIP DATA

According to the Department of Agriculture, Chinese investors owned just over 69,000 acres of American land in 2011. However, by the end of 2021, Chinese investors controlled over 383,000 acres. This significant increase has prompted a flurry of federal legislation to limit Chinese ownership, with some Democratic support, as well as local action by governors and state legislatures.

Federal Efforts

Representative Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House select committee on China, has stated that purchases of American land by the Chinese Communist Party pose a threat to U.S. national security. The House China committee member, Representative Dusty Johnson, has also emphasized the need to take Chinese land ownership in the United States seriously, as it is part of a deliberate attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to gain coercive economic pressure over the U.S. and other countries.

State Action

Several governors, including likely 2024 GOP contender Governor Ron DeSantis and rising star Governor Glenn Youngkin, have taken local action to limit Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland. This growing concern over Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland highlights the need for increased regulation and scrutiny to protect U.S. national security and sovereignty.

• Chinese investors owned just over 69,000 acres of American land in 2011
• By the end of 2021, Chinese investors controlled over 383,000 acres
• Lawmakers at both the federal and state level are taking action to address the growing concern over Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland
• Several governors have taken local action to limit Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland

Foreign Ownership of American Farmland Raises Concerns

Foreign entities, particularly China, have been buying up American farmland at an alarming rate, raising concerns about food security and national security. According to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), China’s ownership of farmland outside of China has increased by 1,000% in the last decade, giving them more control over the global food supply.

Legislation Aims to Protect American Farmland

To address this issue, lawmakers have introduced several bipartisan bills aimed at preventing foreign entities from investing in, purchasing, leasing, or acquiring U.S. farmland. The Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act, introduced by Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), would prevent China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea from acquiring American farmland. The Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act, introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), would require the Government Accountability Office to analyze and report on foreign influence in the U.S. agricultural industry.

Adding Agriculture Secretary to CFIUS

Both bills also call for adding the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency group with authority to review foreign acquisition of U.S. land and businesses. The American Farm Bureau Federation supports adding the Secretary of Agriculture to the National Security Council and CFIUS.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has expressed support for adding the Secretary of Agriculture to CFIUS, stating that it would allow USDA to educate other members on issues related to U.S. agricultural production.

Food Security is National Security

Lawmakers are pushing for these measures to protect American farmland and ensure food security, which they argue is national security. The House version of the PASS Act, pushed by Reps. Ron Johnson, Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and others, would blacklist Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China and their partners from buying American farmland or agricultural processing facilities.

House Republicans have also introduced the Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act, aimed at stopping members of the Chinese Communist Party from buying or owning U.S. farmland.

It’s time for us to prioritize agriculture and food security in our national security discussions and ensure that foreign entities do not gain control over our food supply.

-land-near-u-s-military-installments”>introduced the Protecting Military Installations and Ranges Act to “restrict any effort” by China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea “to buy U.S. land within 100 miles of a U.S. military installation, or 50 miles from military areas.”

Johnson said the Biden administration is “not engaging with us in Congress as much as I think some people would hope” but said the House China committee was acting in a “bipartisan” fashion and “putting aside the partisan slings and arrows instead to focus on the fact that the Chinese Communist Party is a thuggish, repressive regime that wants to remove America as the world’s superpower.”

State-level action

Beginning in 2016, Chinese real estate tycoon Sun Guangxin spent tens of millions of dollars buying up at least 140,000 acres of land in Texas near Del Rio — conveniently near Laughlin Air Force Base, which trains U.S. military pilots.

Sun said he planned to use an American subsidiary to build a wind farm, but state and national leaders from Texas sought to shut the project down over security concerns. Sun had been a former captain in the People’s Liberation Army.

Texas legislators are still working on a bill that would limit Chinese land ownership.

Similarly, Fufeng Group, a huge agricultural company with significant links to China’s government, purchased 370 acres as a location for its new wet corn mill in the agribusiness park just a short distance from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota.

After months of consideration, CFIUS declined to block the project despite urging from North Dakota’s Republican senators and other congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Air Force warned of the significant national security threat, and the Grand Forks City Council voted to end the project in February — only after CFIUS refused to act.

Johnson told the Washington Examiner that “I think most of this energy is better spent at the federal level — that’s not to say there is no role for state and local levels.”

The National Agricultural Law Center said, as of this month, “approximately eighteen states specifically forbid or limit nonresident aliens, foreign businesses and corporations, and foreign governments from acquiring or owning an interest in agricultural land within their state.”

The center’s list says Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin all have laws on the books restricting foreign ownership of land.

Micah Brown, a staff attorney at the center, told the Washington Examiner, “We’ve had a lot of movement at the state level,” noting, “We’ve had three states enact some kind of restriction in 2023, and we have three more that their legislature has passed or are awaiting a governor’s signature.” Brown added, “We’ve had over 30 states propose at least one piece of legislation that would restrict foreign ownership to some degree.”

Youngkin declared in the State of the Commonwealth in January that “Virginians, not the CCP, should own the rich and vibrant agricultural lands God has blessed us with.”

The governor asked the Virginia General Assembly to “send me a bill to prohibit dangerous foreign entities tied to the CCP from purchasing Virginia’s farmland.” In February, the Virginia legislature passed a bill banning the sale of farmland to “foreign adversaries” such as China.

The Chinese spy balloon traveled close to Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base, one of three U.S. Air Force bases maintaining and operating the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.

Montana GOP state Sen. Kenneth Bogner introduced a bill earlier this year in the Montana legislature to address the Chinese land issue.

“Agriculture production land is essential to our critical infrastructure — it supports our economy here in Montana and helps feed the entire nation,” Bogner said while introducing the bill, adding, “We need to be proactive in preventing our adversaries from gaining advantages in influence and espionage.”

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DeSantis hopes Florida’s legislature will pass a bill limiting Chinese land ownership in the coming days.

“We don’t want to have holdings by hostile nations. If you look at the Chinese Communist Party, they’ve been very active gobbling up land,” DeSantis said in January. “And when they have interests that are opposed to ours and we see how they have wielded their authority, especially with President Xi, who’s taken a much more Marxist-Leninist turn, that is not in the best interest of Florida to have the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland, owning land close to military bases.”