Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) argued against China owning farmland in the United States during a hearing Wednesday by the Senate Agriculture Committee on foreign ownership of U.S. land.
“I hope many of our colleagues agree that the Chinese government and other U.S. adversaries should own zero, zero agricultural land in our country — I believe that,” Fetterman said. “I mean, they’re taking back our pandas, you know, we should take back all of their farmland.”
Fetterman’s comment about pandas referred to the end of an agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association that involved loaning the endangered bears to American zoos, Fox News reported.
Three famous giant pandas in the U.S. – Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji – will be returned to China. They currently live at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
China isn’t just buying farmland – the communist nation is buying farmland near key U.S. military bases. In November of 2021, Grand Forks, North Dakota, announced that Fufeng Group of Shandong, China, had selected the area as a location for a new wet corn mill.
READ MORE: Video: China buying U.S. farmland near military bases
According to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), the new Fufeng Group mill would be on a 370-acre plot of land located about 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
The effort to buy up land near the key U.S. military base looks to be part of a pattern of sub-national surveillance and espionage by Chinese firms.
Prior to the Fufeng Group’s effort to buy up land near Grand Forks Air Force Base, another Chinese firm had begun efforts to buy up around 140,000 acres of land located about 70 miles from Laughlin Air Force Base. The Chinese Firm, Guanghui Energy Co. Ltd, wanted to build a massive wind farm known as the Blue Hills Wind Project.
Guanghui Energy Co. is owned by Sun Guangxin. Sun is a Chinese billionaire who reportedly has ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
