It was revealed this week that a member of the Chinese Communist Party secretly purchased 198,000 acres of U.S. farmland, back in 2015.
Chen Tianqiao, a co-founder of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, made the purchase of Oregon land for $85 million, paying around $430 an acre, according to Land Report magazine, the New York Post reported Saturday.
“In 2015, Tianqiao Chen acquired nearly 200,000 acres of former Crown Pacific timberlands in Oregon from Fidelity National Financial Ventures for $85 million ($430 per acre),” the magazine said. “Chen did so via the investment vehicle Whitefish Cascade Forest Resources LLC. In December 2023, Oregon tax records revealed that the 198,000-acre block was currently owned by Shanda Asset Management LLC.”
According to the Daily Mail, Chen’s purchase does not show up in government records of land ownership by foreign investors.
Back in October, the Department of Agriculture estimated that Chinese entities owned around 400,000 acres of U.S. farmland, which translates to more than $2 billion dollars. Though it’s a fraction of foreign-owned farmland, the number has alarmed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, since it’s been dramatically increasing over the past decade as China becomes more and more adversarial toward the U.S.
At the time, it was acknowledged that the 400,000 acre estimate was likely far lower than the real number. For one thing, there’s been an antiquated paper-based reporting system for foreign owned-land, and if someone owns less than 10 acres, it doesn’t have to be reported, nor does someone leasing land.
“Right now, we don’t know the full extent of the risk at hand,” Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI) said. “Outdated reporting systems and a lack of auditing at both the state and federal level leave us with incomplete information and many questions.”
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY) told the Post on Saturday that the Biden administration has “dropped the ball” when it comes to foreign adversaries goggling up American farmland.
“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,” she said.
As the shocking land purchase is uncovered, U.S. politicians are also expressing concern over tens of thousands of Chinese nationals trying to cross our southern border in the past 11 months.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
It’s been estimated that some 31,000 Chinese nations were stopped by law enforcement at our border, a CNN report highlighted. According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data, the U.S. would typically only see around 1,500 Chinese nationals in a given year over the previous decade.
Most of the Chinese nationals are reportedly claiming that they want to come to the U.S. to escape the oppressive communist regime. Notably, a NewsNation report last month captured footage of some Chinese nationals trying to get into the U.S., and overwhelmingly, those observed coming were single adult males.