Published on , Updated on
The rivalry between China and the United States is also playing out on American soil, with a trend that seriously worries the Pentagon: the Chinese are buying up farmland in the country on a massive scale. If they compete with American farmers, they are also settling on land very close to sensitive military sites… To gather intelligence for Beijing?
This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the above report. Click on the video to watch it in full.
This is one of the most agricultural regions in the United States: North Carolina. Here, many of the lands are no longer American, but Chinese-owned. China is gradually purchasing all the surrounding farms. They even built the world’s largest pork factory here, far from the Middle Kingdom. No flag or distinctive signs, just a simple sign: Smithfield. Behind this locally colored name is a private company under contract with the Chinese government. Cameras are not welcome.
In North Carolina, 99% of the pigs raised are now Chinese-owned. “They have put people like me out of business. They have a monopoly on everything. They even have butchers, food for the pigs. We can’t compete with them,” claims pig farmer Mitchell Porter, one of the few still owning some land. “It’s bizarre for me to see a foreign country producing food here. I don’t understand why we let them control our interests. What’s to stop them from stopping whenever they want?” he wonders.
But beyond food sovereignty, there are more serious concerns, according to farmers in the area. On the neighboring plot, Paige Smart, a farmer at S&K Farm Market, worries about the proximity of Chinese lands to American military bases. “I can name at least four, within a two-hour drive. The main one is barely 15 kilometers away. We wonder what the Chinese intentions are here. It’s quite scary,” she says.
It reminds her of old memories, like in 2023, when a Chinese spy balloon flew over the area. “The balloon completed its journey just next to our farm. You can see the traces of the fighter jets surrounding the balloon to shoot it down. Apparently, this is a place for the Chinese,” recounts the farmer.
And North Carolina is far from being an exception. On a map are highlighted the counties where the Chinese have bought agricultural land in recent years, sometimes just a few square kilometers. Many are located near strategic military bases. According to Holden Triplett, former FBI director in Beijing and counter-espionage specialist, there is no doubt: “We have seen this pattern before. They are not buying land anywhere by chance. Our intelligence has reliable information that this is an ongoing operation. They can use this land for intelligence, intercepting communications… And monitoring what goes in and out of the bases is much simpler by being on site.”
The U.S. government is even more concerned that since a 2017 law, purely commercial Chinese private companies can be compelled by Beijing to participate in intelligence operations. But some quickly raise suspicions. In the plains of North Dakota, endless fields and a military base. It is one of the most strategic in the country. That’s where the drones of the future are tested and anti-aircraft defense innovations. A Chinese company wanted to set up just 20 km away.
“Our property was right there,” points out Gary Bridgeford, a farmer. He says he was approached for a lucrative contract and required to sign a confidentiality agreement. “We were already in the process of selling when I found out that they were really behind it. They offered a developer’s price, rather than the standard price for an agricultural project. More than twice what I could have gotten for that land normally,” he continues.
The neighbors raised the alarm, intrigued by a series of suspicious elements. “At first, they were called Fufeng. When we started looking into them, they became Fufeng USA, they changed their name,” notes Craig Spicer, owner of an agricultural transport company. “In their corn factory, they wanted 90-meter high cooling towers. That’s unheard of. Towers that high, the standard is 45 meters, that’s it. … Surely to reach the sky and access all the information there,” observes another farmer, Frank Matejcek.
The Pentagon intervened and stopped the sale. “The neighboring airbase feared an espionage operation,” maintain the farmers. The Chinese company did not wish to respond to our questions. It was ultimately Belgian investors who bought the land. The U.S. government has announced a bill to prohibit China and other rival foreign countries from buying agricultural land here in the United States in the future.
