A Chinese billionaire and member of the Chinese Communist Party is the second-largest foreign owner of farmland in the United States. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Chen Tianqiao, the California-based online gaming pioneer, owns 198,000 acres of Oregon timberland in the United States.
The revelation has sparked outrage among politicians as they are questioning why Chen’s $85 million acquisition was kept confidential for nearly a decade. The sale was completed in 2015, according to the Land Report, a magazine that focuses on private land ownership in the US, but became widespread knowledge only on Monday when Oregon tax records revealed one of Chen’s companies as the beneficial owner.
Bombshell Revelation Sparking Outrage
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The acquisition of the acreage by Chen does not appear in government records documenting land ownership by foreign investors, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik criticized the Biden administration on Saturday, stating that they had “dropped the ball” in safeguarding U.S. agricultural land from being purchased by “foreign adversaries.”
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“Communist China is purchasing US agricultural land to subvert our sovereignty, undermine our agriculture industry, encroach on our military installations, and upend America’s rural communities,” Stefanik said.
Chen’s ownership of the land became public knowledge this week when the state publicly identified one of his companies as the beneficial owner of the property, the Daily Caller first reported.
Chen, 50, also owns a $39 million Manhattan townhouse and a $26 million estate in Los Angeles, where he lives. He became a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at 18 and has risen through the executive ranks of the party, as per reports.
In the Eye of the Storm
The revelation that a billionaire from a nation perceived as hostile has been able to own a significant portion of US land for eight years without being documented in official reports designed to monitor such acquisitions has generated concern across the political spectrum.
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Senators have criticized the Biden administration, alleging a failure to adequately monitor Chinese investment, and there are concerns that the extent of such investments could be larger than initially believed.
Last year, Stefanik and other members of Congress sent a letter to the US Department of Agriculture, urging the agency to increase its monitoring of foreign ownership of farmland.
“Food security is national security,” she wrote.
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Montana farmer and Senator Jon Tester renewed calls on Friday for Congress to take action to safeguard the security of US land.
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“While we learn more about the specifics around this unfolding situation, it highlights the need for Congress to do more to protect American agricultural security,” the Democrat said in a statement this week.
The growing Chinese ownership of US land has triggered concerns among some lawmakers, citing worries about espionage and security.
According to the latest figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Chinese firms now own over $2 billion worth of US farmland, a massive increase from $162 million a decade ago.
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Data from the Department indicates that as of December 2022, companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had a stake in 346,915 acres of American agricultural land.
The reason why Chen’s purchase doesn’t appear in government records is unclear. The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act mandates that foreign investors must report any new interest in American agricultural land to the Department of Agriculture within 90 days of the transaction.
In a similar context, Canada’s Irving family holds the title of the largest foreign landowner in the United States, owning over 1.2 million acres in Maine.
