China buying land near US bases for surveillance, says senator
China is hoping to spy on US military bases by buying nearby farmland, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said this week.
According to a US Department of Agriculture 2023 report, Chinese entities held 349,442 acres of American land in 2022. While the report notes that this number is just under 1% of foreign-held acres, much of the land bought by Chinese companies is in relatively close proximity to US military bases. Nineteen military facilities, in fact, are now positioned near Chinese-owned farmland, according to the New York Post. These include Fort Liberty in North Carolina (formerly Fort Bragg) — the largest military base in the world — as well as Camp Pendleton in California, MacDill air force base in California, and Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Texas.
Case study: Gotion High-Tech
In September, an electric vehicle (EV) battery maker called Gotion Inc with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced a $2 billion battery plant in Illinois near a National Guard military base.
Gotion Inc. is owned by Chinese tech firm Gotion High-Tech, based in Hefei, China. The company pledges loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) several times in its Articles of Association.
The batter maker nevertheless received approval from Illinois officials to build a $2 billion EV battery plant in Monteno, around 15 miles from a National Guard Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) and readiness center. Opened in 2017, the facility houses over 200 soldiers, weapons simulators and ten UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
Footage obtained by the Daily Caller shows Gotion High-Tech employees dressed as Red Army soldiers and pledging to “fight for communism for the rest of my life.” The video was taken during company field trips to communist revolutionary memorials. Over 920 CCP members are reportedly employed by Gotion High-Tech.
Cruz: ‘It is insane that we are allowing the Chinese to do this’
According to Sen. Cruz, the Chinese intend to use their US acreage to conduct surveillance on the US military.
“The Chinese are buying up land and they’re claiming they’re buying it up for farming or ranching, but it allows them to set up reconnaissance sites that allows them to install tracking technology, to use radar, to use infrared scanning, and to view the bases, and from there, to attempt to fly drones over the bases and engage in surveillance,” Cruz said on the Verdict podcast. “And I gotta say, it is insane that we are allowing the Chinese to do this, this should be illegal, we should not allow the Chinese Communists to buy land anywhere near our bases.”
CCP using rural America for espionage operations, reports suggest
The Gold Report reported last year that US officials are concerned about attempts by Chinese nationals to gain access to sensitive US military sites. Many such attempts occur in rural areas, where Chinese citizens appear at military bases posing as tourists despite there being little tourism in the area. Some claim to have gotten lost, while others claim to have hotel reservations on the base.
There have been over 100 such incidents in recent years, say officials, involving Chinese nationals who are likely “pressed into service” and are required to report back to the CCP. These reports sometimes include photos and footage of sensitive US sites.
While these are considered “low-intelligence” tactics, they appear designed to provide China with an understanding of US security strength and protocols. This strategy also gives China the opportunity to deny any connection to the activities of their "lost" citizen and is relatively safe for Chinese citizens. Unlike what might happen to an American caught “getting lost” at a Chinese military site, a Chinese national faces no worse than a trespassing charge.
