Chinese Companies Keep Buying U.S. Land Near Military Bases

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s SitRep. If anyone’s having a tough week, we hope they have the kinds of supportive friends that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has in Rosie O’Donnell. Shortly before Cohen was due to testify in Trump’s criminal trial on Monday, the Trump fixer-turned-prosecution star witness received a text message from the American comedian and actress, herself a longtime target of Trump’s ire and insults: “breathe – relax – tell the truth – u got this – i love u.”

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: The United States scrutinizes Chinese land purchases near military bases, the EU foreign-policy chief gets real on Gaza, espionage cases against China surge in Europe, and more.

Not So Fast

For this week’s newsletter, we’re diving into the wild world of agricultural ownership. Okay, wait, hear us out.

Around 43.4 million acres of U.S. agricultural land is at least partially owned by foreign investors, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued last year. A lot of this is owned by companies from close American pals—such as Canada and the Netherlands—for farming or timber, but there’s also a tranche owned by Chinese investors.

Too close for comfort. The Biden administration issued an order this week forcing a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining firm, MineOne, to divest from land it owns in Wyoming that just so happens to be very close to a U.S. Air Force base that houses nuclear weapons.

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a relatively obscure but immensely powerful body that reviews foreign investments for potential national security risks, spurred this action after it received a “public tip” about MineOne’s purchase within a mile of that air base in 2022, according to a Treasury Department statement.

The (land) plot thickens. What has national security officials and lawmakers in Washington rattled is not the net amount of land owned by Chinese investors—349,442 acres, or less than 1 percent of that total foreign-owned land—but rather where some of that land is. Namely, uncomfortably close to U.S. military bases and other national security installations.

New rules of the game. This isn’t the first such incident. In 2023, a Chinese food producer, the Fufeng Group, bought 370 acres of land near an Air Force base in North Dakota, spurring the Biden administration to issue a new rule that any foreigners wanting to buy land within 100 miles of a U.S. military base or other national security installation needs to first go to the U.S. government for approval. (MineOne did not do that in Wyoming.) That rule, overseen by the Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security, is still being refined and amended to bulk up CFIUS’s oversight ability.

And back in 2020, the subsidiary of a Chinese energy company bought land near the Air Force’s largest pilot training base in southern Texas, as we previously reported.

The fear is that Chinese companies could use such land to snoop on the U.S. military, or as a launchpad for other espionage operations.

China hawks going local. This potential threat has taken on a particular resonance at the local level, as politicians in state and local governments try to glom onto the “tough on China” political wave already taking deep root in Washington. Because what’s more American than protecting farmland from the scourge of communism?

In 2023 alone, 33 states proposed at least 81 bills related to restricting Chinese ownership of U.S. land on national security grounds, as tallied by a study conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

How far is too far? Still, there’s a debate on whether at least some of these legislative proposals go too far in a harmful direction, stoking xenophobia and discrimination. Florida proposed a law, championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, banning Chinese citizens from owning homes or lands in the state. A federal appeals court blocked that law from going into effect in February. That ruling “should serve as a warning to other states who are considering passing similarly racist bills, steeped in a history when Asians were ineligible for citizenship and were told they didn’t belong,” Bethany Li, the legal director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said at the time.

Open questions. Even with all the new attention and controversy, it’s hard to adequately assess how much land is really owned by Chinese entities, and what proportion of that actually constitutes a potential national security threat. A 2023 NBC News investigation found that the federal reporting system for tracking foreign-owned land is “lax and enforcement minimal.”

Let’s Get Personnel

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed economist Andrei Belousov as defense minister, replacing Sergei Shoigu, in a sign that the Kremlin needs a competent manager to resource a long-term attrition war in Ukraine, as FP’s Amy Mackinnon reported on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday dismissed Andrii Alieksieenko, the first deputy chief of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

Rachel Glennerster has been appointed president of the Center for Global Development think tank, succeeding Masood Ahmed.

Heather Hurlburt has left the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to join Chatham House, the British think tank, as an associate fellow for the U.S. and Americas program.

At the Hudson Institute, former U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher has joined as a distinguished fellow, and Aaron MacLean, a former foreign-policy advisor and legislative director to Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, has joined as a senior fellow.

On the Button 

What should be high on your radar, if it isn’t already.

Out of the shadows. British authorities this week charged three men with helping Hong Kong spy on dissidents—and then summoned the Chinese ambassador on Tuesday to denounce the behavior. Beijing, in response, said that “the U.K. must stop anti-China political maneuvering.” It’s the latest example of how European lawmakers are confronting a surge in alleged Chinese espionage cases, all while relations have soured over Beijing’s booming trade with Russia. —Christina Lu

AI diplomacy. The United States and China held their first bilateral meeting on artificial intelligence at the most neutral of neutral venues—Geneva—this week. The meeting, aimed at managing the risks of AI systems, was “candid and constructive,” according to a White House readout, which added that Washington “raised concerns over the misuse of AI, including by [China].” China’s readout said Beijing conveyed its “solemn position” on U.S. restrictions on Chinese technology, including AI, and advocated for the United Nations to be the “main channel” for global AI governance.

Double standards on Gaza? “We can lose our credibility” on Ukraine, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, warned in an interview with Foreign Policy. Borrell said the contrasting Western responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s military operation in Gaza is leading to “criticism about double standards.”

The U.S. military, meanwhile, began delivering aid to Gaza via a floating beach pier that it constructed to funnel more supplies into the embattled territory. The announcement comes as the Biden administration tries to pressure Israel to boost the amount of aid it allows into Gaza, where some 2 million people have fled their homes amid Israel’s war against the Hamas militant group. The United Nations warns that many people there are on the brink of famine. —Rishi Iyengar

Snapshot 

Members of the public view a newly installed painting of the United Kingdom’s King Charles III at the Philip Mould Gallery in London on May 16. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Hot Mic

The commander in chief got a little chippy during a Rose Garden press conference on Tuesday:

Reporter: “Trump said today, ‘China is eating our lunch.’ What do you say in response?”

Biden: “He’s been feeding them a long time.”

Put On Your Radar

Thursday, May 16: NATO chiefs of defense meet in Brussels.

Friday, May 17: The Council of Europe holds a foreign ministers’ meeting.

Sunday, May 19: The Dominican Republic holds a general election.

Thursday, May 23: Biden and Kenyan President William Ruto meet at the White House.

Quote of the Week

“It’ll be entertaining, informative. Like the two old guys on the Muppets.”

—Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, reacting to news that Trump and Biden agreed to face off in two presidential debates—one on June 27 hosted by CNN and one on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC.

This Week’s Most Read

• China and the U.S. Are Numb to the Real Risk of War by Sulmaan Wasif Khan
• What Does America Want in Ukraine? by Emma Ashford, Joshua Shifrinson, and Stephen Wertheim
• Saudi Arabia Is on the Way to Becoming the Next Egypt by Steven A. Cook

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Rockin’ in the free world. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Kyiv this week had everything: $2 billion in announcements in future U.S. military aid to Ukraine; American diplomats lecturing Ukraine on taking tougher anti-corruption measures; and, of course, dad rock.

Blinken, the United States’ guitar-strumming diplomat-in-chief, played the Neil Young classic “Rockin’ in the Free World” with a local band at the popular Kyiv haunt Barman Dictat. The performance drew mixed reviews from Ukrainians and Americans alike—all the way up to Trump. Just like Blinken’s last album.