(NewsNation) — Chinese national Chen Tianqiao has made headlines in America after multiple media reports that he is one of the top landowners in the United States.
According to The Land Report, Chen is ranked as 82nd in a list of the biggest individual landowners. This makes him the second-largest foreign investor in U.S. farmland.
Chen Tianqiao’s land purchase
Chen, a billionaire who is the co-founder of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, bought nearly 200,000 acres of timberlands in Oregon back in 2015, though this purchase flew under the radar until it was revealed in the past couple of weeks through tax records. In total, the land in Oregon cost Chen about $85 million, or $430 per acre.
The Daily Mail reports that his name does not appear in government records of agricultural land ownership by foreign investors, despite the fact that United States Department of Agriculture is supposed to track foreign purchases.
This has led to outcry from a number of lawmakers, including Congressman Jon Tester of Montana, who wrote a letter to the Department of Agriculture and Treasury asking for answers.
Chen, 50, has held executive roles in Chinese Communist Party-affiliated organizations, according to the Daily Mail, and that he owns a $39 million Manhattan mansion and $25 million Los Angeles estate. Chinese media writes that Chen joined the CCP at 18.
Political Response
Tester, in his letter to federal officials, said the situation highlights the need for Congress to do more to protect American agriculture security. The Democrat stressed that the USDA and Treasury Department need to “prevent our foreign adversaries from controlling our country’s food supply while also gaining access to land near sensitive military sites.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, said officials dropped the ball.
“Food security is national security. We cannot protect our agricultural land from foreign adversaries if we do not know they are purchasing it,” she said in an interview with The Daily Mail.
Some members of Congress have even tried to limit who can own American farmland.
Legality
There’s no federal law right now that prohibits foreign businesspeople, even from U.S. adversaries like Russia and China, from coming in and buying U.S. farmland.
Larry Van Tassell, a professor and director of the Center for Agricultural Profitability at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, wrote last October that foreign investors are not allowed to participate in certain disaster assistance programs, but can use most farm programs if they meet the general criteria.
This criteria, per the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, includes filing a report of holdings with the Secretary of Agriculture. Foreign persons who acquire or transfer an interest in agricultural land after that have to report the transactions within 90 days of it.
“In addition, any foreign person who holds land that subsequently becomes or ceases to be agricultural land, or any person who holds agricultural land and subsequently becomes or ceases to be a foreign person, must also file a report within 90 days of such change,” the act states.
Information supplied in the report has to include: the person’s legal name; address; citizenship or legal entity if not an individual; intended use of the land; its purchase price and the type of rental agreement, among other details. If one fails to comply with the AFIDA, they can face a possible civil penalty of up to 25% of the fair market value of the interest held in the land they acquired.
How much U.S. land is owned by foreign entities?
Last December, Reuters reported, the number of U.S. farm acres owned by foreign entities grew by more than 8%. However, the 43.4 million acres of foreign-owned forest and farm land is just 3.4% of the country’s privately held agricultural land, and nearly 2% of all land in the U.S.
Canada, a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, is the largest foreign investor in the United States, as it accounts for 32% of the acres. Much of this, Reuters wrote, are forests in Maine. China, meanwhile, only accounts for less than 1% of foreign-owned acres. They had 350,000 in 2022, which is actually a slight decrease from 2021.
Chen’s response
NewsNation reached out to Chen for comment, and his team responded:
We are going to issue a media statement this evening but I can clarify a few of the key points for you.
Jason Reindorp, Global Head of Communications & External Relations, Shanda
First, Mr Chen is not a member of the CCP. As a nationally recognized entrepreneur in the early 2000s, he was a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from 2008 to 2017 but he resigned from this position in late 2017. The CPPCC is a political advisory body with no real political power. The Chens left China in 2010 and lived in Singapore for about 6-7 years before moving to the Bay Area where they have resided since.
The other thing is that although it was not required at the time, Shanda (a US company) proactively requested that the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review the potential acquisition before starting the process. In their response (attached for your information), the Committee stated that there were no concerns and approved the acquisition.
Finally, we’re proud owners of this land. Since acquiring it in 2018, Shanda has continued timber operations there. The company is an active participant in the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project; it offers public access to outdoor sportspeople and we work with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to provide exclusive hunting opportunities for disabled veterans and young people. The company also recently donated 10 acres to the Crescent Rural Fire Department to house a community center and headquarters for the fire department.
NewsNation digital producer Cassie Buchman and Reuters contributed to this story.