Chen Tianqiao, a Chinese national and the founder of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, an online gaming company, has emerged as a significant landowner in the U.S. His acquisition of 198,000 acres of Oregon timberland in 2015 for $85 million through his investment firm places him as the 82nd largest private landowner in the country.
The revelation of Chen’s land ownership, especially his status as a member of the CCP, has raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers. U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, expressed unease over Chen’s CCP membership and the implications of such extensive foreign ownership of one of America’s most precious resources. Chen has reportedly been attempting to sell about 33,000 acres of his Oregon forestland, currently valued at approximately $95 million.
GAO Report Highlights Flaws in Foreign Land Ownership Tracking:
Concurrently, a GAO report requested by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House Committee on Agriculture uncovered significant deficiencies in the U.S. government’s system for tracking foreign land purchases. The report criticized the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for not sharing timely data on foreign investments in agricultural land, with existing processes being overly complex and opaque.
The GAO’s findings have intensified concerns about foreign, particularly Chinese, ownership of American farmland, especially near U.S. military installations. In 2022 alone, foreign investors acquired more than 3.4 million acres, increasing foreign-held agricultural land in the U.S. to over 43.4 million acres. This represents approximately 3.4% of all privately held agricultural land in the nation. The report urged the USDA to improve its reporting system and update its data collection forms to better track and understand foreign investments in U.S. farmland.
Lawmakers have recognized the growing foreign ownership of U.S. farmland as a direct threat to the nation’s food security and national security. This has led to calls for a comprehensive governmental response to address the findings of the GAO report and safeguard American farmland.
