Rep. Newhouse: Time is now to prevent China from gaining a foothold in America's domestic food production
Rep. Dan Newhouse weighs in on what can be done to stop China from building a monopoly of foreign ownership of agricultural lands.
After Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contentious trip to Taiwan, tensions are steadily rising between the United States and China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conducted a series of escalating military drills around Taiwan, with some reports indicating that it could invade the island within the next 18 months. With a potential confrontation looming, China is amassing a secret weapon inside our own borders: significant control over America’s most valuable farmland.
In 2020 alone, China increased its ownership of U.S. land by more than 80%—to 352,000 acres, or over 550 square miles. Much of this land is in highly strategic locations, such as near American military bases or along our southern border, and more than half of it is agricultural. The purpose of these purchases is likely twofold.
First, China is seeking greater control of food supplies—both ours and its own. The CCP understands that food is essential to a nation’s survival, especially in times of conflict. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have already revealed the fragility of America’s food supply. If Communist China can gain even partial control over U.S. domestic agriculture, high prices and empty shelves could become weapons of war.
China is also acutely aware of its own reliance on imports to feed its 1.4 billion citizens. It’s no surprise that China’s acquisitions of farmland extend far beyond our own country. In the decade following 2009, Chinese agricultural investments worldwide grew tenfold, bolstering its ability to redirect the world’s food to its own people.
CHINA CONTINUES MILITARY DRILLS NEAR TAIWAN
Second, by snapping up U.S. farmland, China is seeking national security leverage, as evidenced by the strategic locations of the acquisitions. Among its recent purchases were 300 acres near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, which one senator described as the "the backbone of all U.S. military communications across the globe." Multiple experts have pointed out that this land could allow for monitoring air traffic and even intercepting sensitive drone and space-based communications.
One state over, in Montana, Chinese tech corporation Huawei grabbed a large plot of land near nuclear silos that house 50 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. A federal investigation recently concluded that the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly sensitive Defense Department communications, including those regarding nuclear weapons.
The same strategy is playing out in South Texas. A former member of the Chinese army, who still has ties to the communist party, purchased 130,000 acres surrounding Laughlin Air Force Base. This raised multiple red flags for government officials in Washington. Laughlin is a training site for new pilots, but it’s also less than ten miles from the Mexico border, where China has been trafficking fentanyl into the United States.
Pair this with Chinese marijuana production and distribution in Oklahoma. Last year, law enforcement discovered Chinese nationals buying Oklahoma farmland at exorbitant prices, growing thousands of pounds of marijuana, and distributing it on the U.S. black market. Perhaps China considers this a bonus: not only is it gaining leverage over our food supplies and national security, it is also contributing to a drug problem that is weakening American communities.
It seems obvious that a nation should not allow adversaries to buy up its land for any purpose, much less those that pose direct threats. Indeed, it is obvious to China, who forbids Americans from owning any Chinese farmland. Why, then, does the Biden administration refuse to compel China to play by its own rules? The continued failure of this administration to prevent these land grabs is an abdication of its duty to our farmers, our families, and our allies.
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But it’s not too late for Congress to force the administration’s hand. We are sponsoring and supporting a bill to prevent the purchase of American farmland by China. Passage of this bill is more critical than ever in the wake of escalating tensions surrounding Taiwan.
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As we track these troubling developments in the Taiwan Strait, we must recognize that the CCP’s strategy is not contained to the other side of the world. China is here, inside our gates, gaining control that it could use against us at any moment. If we wait much longer to stop these purchases, it could soon be too late.
Republican Dan Newhouse represents Washington's 4th Congressional District, serves on the House Appropriations Committee, and is a member of the Republican Mainstreet Partnership, where Sarah Chamberlain is president and CEO.
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