Despite sporadic attempts, mostly in several states, to stop China-based and therefore China-governed companies from buying U.S. land, including land near U.S. military bases—it’s still happening. But federal efforts to arrest the CCP development seem to be kicking into high gear.
Last month, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party noted that the U.S. House had advanced the Agricultural Risk Review Act (HR 1713). This Act “would better facilitate national security reviews of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland—including the Agriculture Department in screening CCP-linked land acquisitions.”
More recently, Senator Josh Hawley reintroduced legislation to ban Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland.
Stop the CCP
And around the same time, the Trump administration announced a National Farm Security Action Plan to “to ban China’s farmland purchases, halt dangerous research” (NY Post, July 8, 2025)
The Trump administration is launching an aggressive, multi-agency effort to protect America’s farmlands, food supply and critical research from influence and control by US adversaries—including banning the purchase of farmland by Chinese nationals….
[Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins] noted that Trump would “likely” be signing another executive order “very soon” to respond to the foreign encroachment, which would couple with federal and state legislative efforts aimed at safeguarding US agricultural research from malign foreign influence, intellectual property theft, and the growing threat of agroterrorism.
At least 700 foreign nationals in “countries of concern” like China will be swiftly kicked off of contracts and research agreements with the USDA—and further regulatory actions will remove more than 550 concerning foreign entities….
Rollins also said her department and other agencies will help ban the purchase of farmland by Chinese nationals—and “claw back” properties already bought.
The administration’s announcement comes several weeks after Chinese nationals tried to smuggle potentially dangerous biological materials into the United States.
“It’s going to stop,” says Attorney General Pam Bondi. “FBI has opened over 100 bio-smuggler investigations in recent years. We will prosecute you. We will hold you accountable.”
Earlier, the Post had reported that 19 U.S. military bases are within spying distance of Chinese-owned farmland (see the Post’s map of locations, shown above). “Under the guise of farming, the Chinese landowners could set up reconnaissance sights, install tracking technology, use radar and infra-red scanning to view bases or attempt to fly drones over them as ways to surveil military sites, sources told the Post.”
U.S. access to China’s military bases
Search engines cough up scads of results on how Chinese nationals are leasing or buying land near U.S. military bases and how (some) U.S. politicians are trying to put an end to this practice. The Internet is less forthcoming on the question whether the Chinese government lets U.S. companies lease land close enough to Chinese military bases to facilitate spying. But I’m sure that the answer is out there, somewhere, and that the answer is No.
Also see:
StoptheCCP.org: “Don’t Mess With Texas, Beijing”
The Arizona Sun Times: “Governor Katie Hobbs Vetoes Bill to Limit Chinese Ownership of Land Near Military Bases” (June 5, 2025)
The Arizona Sun Times: “Chinese Spies Targeting U.S. Navy Personnel Arrested in Texas, Oregon” (July 2, 2025)
