Report: China owns farmland next to 19 military bases in the United States

[New Sancai Compilation and First Release] According to the New York Post, China owns farmland near 19 military bases across the United States, raising concerns about espionage and sabotage by Chinese Communist Party agents.

U.S. military bases adjacent to these Chinese-held lands include even some of the most strategically important installations, such as Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Fort Cavazow in Killeen, Texas, and San Diego, California. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and MacDill Air Force Base in California.

"It's concerning because of the proximity to strategic locations," retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert S. Spalding III told The Washington Post. His focus is on U.S.-China relations.

“These locations can be used to set up intelligence gathering sites and their owners can have an influence on local politics, as we have seen in the past,” he said. “It’s shocking that we have no laws on the books to prevent the Chinese from buying in the United States. real estate.”

Using agriculture as a cover, Chinese landowners can use radar and infrared scanning to view bases, install tracking technology, conduct reconnaissance and try to fly drones over the facilities, The Post's sources said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chinese citizens have attempted to break into military installations more than 100 times in recent years, including entering a missile range in New Mexico and divers found near a rocket launch site in Florida.

The FBI has labeled the Chinese government a "serious threat" to the United States, with agency director Christopher Wray saying in April that Chinese hackers had infiltrated critical U.S. infrastructure and were awaiting "appropriate action." time to carry out a devastating blow."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also warned that Chinese spies disguised as immigrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border "to engage in economic espionage." According to the Department of Homeland Security's 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment, these spies "seek to unlawfully acquire our technology and intellectual property."

Morgan Lerette, a former contractor for the private military contractor Blackwater, told the Washington Post that the Chinese “are or will use this farmland to learn more about U.S. military capabilities, operations and technology."

"This will give them a better understanding of how to transition the military from a defensive strategy to an expeditionary strategy," Lerrett said.

He said they would figure out "how to quickly mobilize forces to respond to a conflict such as the seizure of Taiwan, and how and when the U.S. military would respond to their invasion based on troop movements from those bases."

He added that China would monitor the movement of troops in and out of the base to develop an idea of behavior and operational patterns.

"This will allow the Chinese to study what is happening and how to respond," Lerrett said. "Recognizing mobilization is easy if you know what to look for."

According to the latest analysis from the USDA Farm Service Agency, as of December 31, 2022, Chinese investors owned 349,442 acres of U.S. farmland.

(Compiled by: Wang Jimin)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)