Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said the blurred lines between China’s public and private sectors makes Chinese purchases of American land especially concerning.
A fact sheet released by the America First Policy Institute said banning the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing American agricultural land is not a partisan issue, it is a national security issue.
“Unlike in America, there exists no distinction between the Chinese government and ‘private’ Chinese businesses. That makes the trend to purchase land and real estate by the Chinese a major national security threat,” Gosar said in a statement provided to State Newswire. “We must protect our nation’s intelligence and intellectual property from this ever-growing, Communist, anti-American, cruel and mercantilist empire-builder.”
American farmland is a strategic asset that enables the U.S. to maintain food security and independence, but China's Belt and Road Initiative includes the goal of controlling global food supply chains. Citing documents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the AFPI report found the amount of U.S. farmland owned by Chinese entities rose from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020. That acreage is enough for almost 800 American families to farm.
The AFPI fact sheet said 14 states currently have laws in place that prohibit the CCP from owning farmland. Those states are Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Three additional states have introduced bills on this issue.
In August, California’s legislature passed the Food and Farm Security Act, which would ban any foreign governments from buying or leasing farmland, the AFPI report said. In September, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a bill for next year’s legislative session that would ban China, as well as “foreign countries of concern,” from buying farmland.
Although almost 20% of the global population lives in China, the country possesses only 7-9% of global arable land, according to a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report. Whereas China had 294 million acres of arable land in 2018 and a population of 1.4 billion as of 2020, the U.S. has more than 375 million acres of arable land and a population of 329.5 million.
China's arable land has been shrinking over the last decade due to soil and water pollution, industrial growth and urbanization, the report said. Chinese entities have been purchasing American farmland to resolve this problem.
Gosar has represented Arizona's Fourth Congressional district since 2010, according to his website.
