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The Trump administration plans to ban Chinese language teams from shopping for farmland within the US, notably close to navy bases, out of rising concern that their purchases are undermining nationwide safety.
US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday mentioned the administration would work with state and native governments to take “swift legislative and government motion to ban the acquisition of American farmland by Chinese language nationals and different international adversaries”.
“American agriculture is not only about feeding our households, however about defending our nation and standing as much as international adversaries who’re shopping for our farmland, stealing our analysis and creating harmful vulnerabilities within the very methods that maintain us,” mentioned Rollins as she unveiled what she known as the Nationwide Farm Safety Motion Plan.
Talking alongside Rollins, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned “international possession of land close to strategic bases and US navy installations poses a severe risk to our nationwide safety”.
The announcement follows mounting issues from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and throughout the nation about Chinese language purchases of American farmland lately, triggering alarm about their potential use for espionage. The US Home China committee particularly has pushed for elevated scrutiny of Chinese language farmland acquisitions.
John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the Home China committee, mentioned the transfer was a “essential step to guard each our agriculture and our sovereignty”.
“China’s sample of shopping for up our farmland isn’t simply an financial play — it’s a nationwide safety risk,” Moolenaar mentioned. “We can’t enable China to purchase US farms and jeopardise the meals provide American households depend on. That risk turns into much more acute when these land purchases happen close to navy bases.”
As a part of the hassle to extend scrutiny of international purchases of American farmland, Rollins mentioned she would turn into a member of the Committee on International Funding within the US [Cfius], an influential Treasury-led inter-agency panel that examines international investments within the US for potential threats to nationwide safety.
Lawmakers need to grant Cfius the authority to look at a broader vary of inbound investments.
In 2024, President Joe Biden ordered a Chinese language group that was operating a crypto-mining operation in Wyoming to promote the land the place it operated laptop servers as a result of it was subsequent to a base that homes US nuclear ballistic missiles. It was the primary time the US had used the committee to power a international entity to promote American land.
Rollins mentioned the administration would do all the things in its energy to “claw again” land that had already been purchased by teams from China and different US adversaries.
In keeping with 2023 division of agriculture figures, Chinese language entities owned 277,336 acres of American farmland, slightly below 1 per cent of the full owned by international teams. The Chinese language purchases had been concentrated in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah and Florida.
The scrutiny of Chinese language-owned farmland is a part of a broader rising deal with methods Chinese language teams might conduct espionage within the US.
Lawmakers are involved about all the things from agricultural land to Chinese language wind generators containing know-how that some officers imagine might facilitate digital spying.
Lately, the US and its companions within the 5 Eyes intelligence-sharing community — Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — have additionally elevated public warnings a few vary of Chinese language investments in firms that would allow Beijing to conduct espionage within the international locations.
The Chinese language embassy in Washington has been approached for remark.
