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Op-Ed: The growing concern over Chinese
investment in American agriculture
John Hendrickson | Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation
“Our nation’s greatest enemy shouldn’t be allowed to purchase our
homeland and turn it into de facto enemy territory. We would never have
permitted Russian communists to acquire our land in the last Cold War,
and we ought not to permit Chinese communists to do so in this Cold
War,” |
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 The growing influence and power of China should be
a concern for all policymakers. China is growing more aggressive militarily and
they are attempting to control resources across the globe, including in the
United States. China is also taking advantage of the United States in terms of
trade. The United States is running an over $350 billion trade deficit with
China. Overall, in 2021, the United States ran a $1 trillion trade deficit. Our
massive trade deficit is not the only thing we should be concerned about as
China is buying up agricultural land across the United States.
“Unknown to most Americans, the Chinese Communist Party has been buying our
farms, land and even our homes for decades. Why? So they can take our food,
technology and other resources for themselves,” U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK),
wrote for Fox News. Even though some states, such as Iowa, have foreign land
ownership restrictions, this does not prevent a foreign power from taking
control of various components of food production.
This would be unheard of during the Cold War.
“Our nation’s greatest enemy shouldn’t be allowed to purchase our homeland and
turn it into de facto enemy territory. We would never have permitted Russian
communists to acquire our land in the last Cold War, and we ought not to permit
Chinese communists to do so in this Cold War,” Cotton wrote.
Nevertheless, China is “investing” heavily in the United States.
“Buyers from the People’s Republic of China purchased $6.1 billion in real
estate last year, the most of any foreign buyer. Many of these purchases over
the past few years have been of farmland or ranchland near U.S. military bases,”
wrote Chuck DeVore, vice president of National Initiatives at Texas Public
Policy Foundation.
It is not just a concern over foreign entities controlling agriculture, but also
the real possibility of espionage taking place. As an example, Chinese interests
purchased several hundreds of acres of ground close to an Air Force base in
North Dakota. In Texas, a former Chinese official purchased 130,000 acres close
to the Laughlin Air Force base.
Both are concerning and Cotton noted that the base in North Dakota is home to
sophisticated drone technology and is a vital center for military
communications. DeVore also notes that major Chinese telecommunications
companies have sold technologies such as cell towers and routers to rural
communities, which raises concerns.
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“Much of the made-in-China equipment was installed adjacent to the land-based
leg of America’s nuclear triad – the 400 Minuteman III Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) – in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and
Wyoming,” DeVore wrote.
It is not just agricultural land and enterprises that China is purchasing.
Cotton states that China is also investing in real estate.
“Between 2010 and 2020, the American Realtors Association estimates that Chinese
nationals bought over $200 billion worth of American real-estate, more than any
other country in the world,” Cotton wrote.
China’s increasing “investment” in the United States should be a top concern for
policymakers.
“How did we get here? The Chinese Communist Party practices strategic
mercantilism, fostering key technologies with dual-use civilian and military
applications while driving competing industries in other nations out of
business,” DeVore argues.
In addition, because of poor and reckless trade policies, China has taken
advantage of American markets, which has resulted in a tremendous loss in
manufacturing, good paying middle-class jobs, and created dependency.
“Between 2000 and 2007 alone, the United States hemorrhaged 3.4 million
manufacturing jobs, about 20 percent of its total. It lost a further 1.5 million
manufacturing jobs between 2007 and 2016,” Joel Kotkin, a Washington Fellow at
the Claremont Institute, wrote.
Many of these were lost to China and Kotkin points out that “the trade deficit
with China has cost as many as 3.7 million jobs since 2000.”
The United States is dangerously dependent upon foreign nations, such as China,
for necessities. Whether it is semiconductors, manufactured goods, high tech
equipment, defense related supplies, pharmaceuticals, among others, the nation
is too dependent on overseas powers.
China’s increasing investment into America is a serious national security
threat.
John Hendrickson serves as policy director for Iowans for Tax
Relief Foundation
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