China owns U.S. land about twice the size of New York City (2024)
Chinese investors own land in the U.S. equivalent to roughly twice the size of the footprint of New York City, amid concerns that China is attempting to buy up parcels of land near Air Force bases.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) latest report on foreign ownership of American land, from 2021, 146 Chinese investors held 383,935 acres—nearly double the 193,700 acres that comprise New York City.
The USDA report said the 366 parcels amounted to less than 1 percent of foreign-held land, with a total value of $2.1 billion dollars.
The issue of Chinese land ownership in the U.S. has been reignited in recent days. Andrew Hunter, an assistant secretary of the Department of the Air Force, sent a letter on January 27 to North Dakota Senator John Hoeven.
Hunter urged against a proposal from the Fufeng Group, a Chinese biomanufacturer, to build a wet corn milling plant, 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force base in the north-east of the state.
In the letter, Hunter wrote: "The Department's view is unambiguous: the proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area."
Hunter noted that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States had concluded it did not have jurisdiction. He added that the Air Force base "is the center of military activities related to both air and space operations."
"We believe the city should discontinue the Fufeng project and instead we should work together to find an American company to develop the agriculture project," senators Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, both Republicans, wrote in a January 31 statement.
Newsweek has contacted the Fufeng Group for comment.
The letter has prompted fresh calls for new legislation to be passed preventing the purchase of U.S. land near military installations.
"There needs to be a law passed by both houses, signed by the president, monitoring this or saying it cannot be done so many miles away from an air force base, but there's no action by Congress," Michael Pillsbury, director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute, told Fox News on Monday.
"There has to be legal action taken," he added. "It has to be a crime, for example, to do some of the things that are being done to help China in our country. There's no sign that's happening at all; that's what concerns me the most."
China must be banned from buying farmland ANYWHERE in our country, especially near our military bases. #IA04https://t.co/dS82VkexIE
"There should be national legislation," Kathleen McFarland, former deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration, told the news channel. "They should not be allowed to scoop up American farmland, especially near critical military facilities."
Meanwhile, Randy Feenstra, a Republican congressman representing Iowa, tweeted on Tuesday: "China must be banned from buying farmland ANYWHERE in our country, especially near our military bases."
Several bills have been introduced in recent years looking to limit or prohibit foreign investment in U.S. land, but none has been passed.
In August 2022, Republican senator for Arkansas Tom Cotton brought a bill—co-sponsored by senators Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Roger Marshall of Kansas, both Republican—to "direct the President to take such actions as may be necessary to prohibit the purchase of public or private real estate located in the United States by the Chinese Communist Party."
"Chinese investments in American farmland put our food security at risk and provide opportunities for Chinese espionage against our military bases and critical infrastructure," Cotton stated at the time.
"There are two things that make Chinese ownership in our farmland particularly concerning," Ralph Norman, a Republican congressman representing South Carolina, wrote in a blog following the introduction of the bill.
"First, foreign investors from China are under the total and absolute control of the communist Chinese government. And second, that government has become increasingly hostile towards America."
With a majority in the House of Representatives, and a slim Democrat majority in the senate, GOP lawmakers may now look to introduce fresh legislation in this session of congress to limit Chinese investment in U.S. land.
Correction 2/13/23, 3:00 a.m. ET: This article originally named Tom Cotton as a senator for Arizona, and has now been corrected to note that he is a senator for Arkansas.
“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has no business purchasing land near military bases or for agricultural purposes – or for any other reason,” said Rep. Bill Johnson. “It is a critical matter of national security that we prevent the CCP from buying large swaths of American land.
As demonstrated in Table 1, the top 10 foreign owners of U.S. agricultural land by acres were Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, France, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Ireland. Individuals from these countries own three-quarters of the acres owned by foreigners.
In a study of USDA reports, Pew found the foreign country that owns the most U.S. land is not China or Russia, but rather, our neighbors north: Canada. Investors from the Great White North, according to the USDA, own about 12.8 million acres of U.S. land, most of it forest land.
The 2022 Land Report 100, compiled each year by The Land Report magazine, released its annual list of landowners who own the most acres in the United States. The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres.
So, can foreigners buy property in China? The answer is yes, foreigners are allowed to purchase property in China! The essential requirement is that you have studied or worked in China for at least one year on a residence permit. Foreigners are allowed to only own one residential property for dwelling purposes.
People own most farmland. Some 2.6 million owners are individuals or families, and they own more than two thirds of all farm acreage. Fewer than 32,500 non family held corpor ations own farmland, and they own less than 5 percent of all U.S. farmland.
The federal government owns about 640 million acres (2.6 million km2) of land in the United States, about 28% of the total land area of 2.27 billion acres (9.2 million km2).
Is There Any Land in the US That No One Owns? Depends on what you mean by no one. There is plenty of publically-held land owned by the federal government or states. However, there is no land in the US that does not have a designated owner.
The most prominent foreign acquisition of an American food company in the past few years was Chinese company WH Group's 2013 purchase of Smithfield Foods for $4.7 billion. The combined company is the largest pork producer in the world.
Amazon.com, Inc. (/ˈæməzɒn/ AM-ə-zon UK also /ˈæməzən/ AM-ə-zən) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.
In 2019, hedge fund owner Ken Griffin logged the highest amount paid for a residence on record in the US, when he bought a penthouse for $238 million in the lauded limestone tower.
The largest country in the world is Russia with a total area of 17,098,242 Km² (6,601,665 mi²) and a land area of 16,376,870 Km² (6,323,142 mi²), equivalent to 11% of the total world's landmass of 148,940,000 Km² (57,510,000 square miles). See also: Most Populous Countries.
Approximately 27.1% of land in Florida is owned by the federal government, leaving 72.9% of Florida's land to private ownership. The Bureau of Land Management oversees the largest portion of federally owned land in Florida at 39.7%.
King Ranch, largest ranch in the United States, composed of a group of four tracts of land in southeastern Texas, totaling approximately 825,000 acres (333,800 hectares). The King Ranch was established by Richard King, a steamboat captain born in 1825 in Orange county, New York.
Japan and China have been the largest foreign holders of US debt for the last two decades. Japan and China held almost 50% of all foreign-owned US debt between 2004 and 2006. However, this has declined over time, and as of 2022 they controlled approximately 25% of foreign-owned debt.
At the end of 2021, of the 98 countries for whom data was available, Pakistan ($27.4bn of external debt to China), Angola (22.0bn), Ethiopia (7.4bn), Kenya (7.4bn) and Sri Lanka (7.2bn) held the biggest debts to China.
1 Foreign governments hold a large portion of the public debt, while the rest is owned by U.S. banks and investors, the Federal Reserve, state and local governments, mutual funds, pensions funds, insurance companies, and holders of savings bonds.
Highlights: Foreign Investment US Real Estate Statistics
From April 2020 to March 2021, investors from outside the United States bought 107,000 properties worth $54.4 billion in the United States. Foreign-born individuals make up 14.25 percent of the population in the country's 50 largest metros, on average.
An average 80 square meter apartment within Shanghai's Inner Ring Road goes for upwards $886,000; while in the city's hinterlands it sells for around US$200,000. In Beijing, the average cost of a home of this size is roughly US$310,000.
According to Russian law, foreigners are usually allowed to purchase or rent property in Russia, but certain exceptions apply. Also, in order to be allowed to buy a property, the foreign citizen must hold a valid Russian resident permit.
A live database provides a visual of all its land holdings. Conclusion: The Catholic Church owns the most land, far more than McDonald's and billionaire Bill Gates.
Which States Have the Most State Parks? California has the most state parks in the country, with 270. There are a total of 3,729 state parks in the United States, with 11 states having more than 100 state parks each.
The history of federal land ownership has been largely one of divestiture and public use, not acquisition. As the United States expanded across the continent, it did so by purchasing or taking the land that became new states. (Among the groups it took land from were Native Americans.)
The United States cropland value averaged $5,050 per acre, an increase of $630 per acre (14.3 percent) from the previous year. The United States pasture value averaged $1,650 per acre, an increase of $170 per acre (11.5 percent) from 2021.
That's just short of 44% of the total number of blocks. Those empty blocks add up to 4.61 million square km (1.78 million sq. mi), which corresponds to just under 47% of the total area of the United States.
About 46% of California's land area — or about 48 million acres — is owned by federal agencies, such as the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, according to a Chronicle analysis of local, state and federal public land ownership data.
Map of all federally owned land in the United States. Most of the public land managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states.
Rockall. The tiny island rock known as Rockall remains unconquered and has no buildings or people on it. The United Kingdom claimed and incorporated Rockall in 1955 – however the Republic of Ireland have not recognised this claim, insisting Rockall is Irish.
The largest unclaimed territory on Earth is in Antarctica. Marie Byrd Land, a 620,000-square-mile collection of glaciers and rock formations, lies in the western portion of the southernmost continent. Because of its remoteness, no nation has ever claimed it.
How have Chinese and Canadian investments developed over time? The share of Chinese investors in the U.S. real estate market remained somewhat constant until 2018 when it hovered at around 15 percent, before dropping to 11 percent in 2019 and then six percent in 2021.
China purchased $165 billion in goods and services from the United States in 2015, representing 7.3 percent of all US exports and about 1 percent of total US economic output.
This statistic shows the direct investment position of the United States in China from 2000 to 2021, on a historical-cost basis. In 2021, the U.S. investments made in China were valued at 118.19 billion U.S. dollars.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) latest report on foreign ownership of American land, from 2021, 146 Chinese investors held 383,935 acres—nearly double the 193,700 acres that comprise New York City.
Chinese investors are among the top foreign purchasers of residential real estate, along with Canadians, according to the National Association of Realtors. Other states have had concerns over foreign ownership of land and have made efforts to regulate it.
Highlights: Foreign Investment US Real Estate Statistics
From April 2020 to March 2021, investors from outside the United States bought 107,000 properties worth $54.4 billion in the United States. Foreign-born individuals make up 14.25 percent of the population in the country's 50 largest metros, on average.
At the end of last year the bank revisited its calculations. It now thinks China's economy will not overtake America's until 2035 and at its high point will be only 14% bigger (see chart).
There is still much work to be done to propel China to the top of the world's economy, but it is certainly possible that the Chinese economy can surpass the power of the US by 2050. It may also be too early to make definitive projections of China's future.
The U.S. makes up 23.93% of the total global economy, says Investopedia. The World Bank Group lists China as the second richest country in the world as of 2021, possessing a GDP of $17.734 trillion along with a GDP per capita of $12,556.3. China makes up 18.45% of the total global economy.
Over the past 20 years, Japan and China have owned more US Treasuries than any other foreign nation. Between 2000 and 2022, Japan grew from owning $534 billion to just over $1 trillion, while China's ownership grew from $101 billion to $855 billion.
The public includes foreign investors and foreign governments. These two groups account for 30 percent of the debt. Individual investors and banks represent 15 percent of the debt. The Federal Reserve is holding 12 percent of the treasuries issued.
According to usafacts.org, as of January 2023, Japan owned $1.1 trillion in US Treasuries, making it the largest foreign holder of the national debt. The second-largest holder is China, which owned $859 billion of US debt.
Since the U.S. dollar has a variable exchange rate, however, any sale by any nation holding huge U.S. debt or dollar reserves will trigger the adjustment of the trade balance at the international level. The offloaded U.S. reserves by China will either end up with another nation or will return back to the U.S.
Furthermore, China needs to maintain significant reserves of U.S. debt to manage the exchange rate of the renminbi. Were China to suddenly unload its reserve holdings, its currency's exchange rate would rise, making Chinese exports more expensive in foreign markets.
Key Takeaways. Whether you're an American retiree or a Chinese bank, American debt is considered a sound investment. The Chinese yuan, like the currencies of many nations, is tied to the U.S. dollar. Because of varying maturities dates, China would be unable to call in all its Treasury holdings at once.
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