Chinese companies and Chinese nationals have been buying farmland across the United States, disproportionately located in the vicinity of major military installations. This includes land located near Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, North Carolina (formerly Fort Bragg). The New York Post, in an article analyzing the security threat posed by these purchases, noted that Fort Liberty is “surrounded by Chinese-owned farmland within a 30-mile radius.”
Fort Liberty is the largest military base in the United States in terms of personnel and is home to several U.S. Airborne and special operations units, including the storied 82nd Airborne Division. The base also contains two major airfields that are used for global airlift operations and would be central for coordinating the deployment of troops in a potential major conflict. Fort Liberty is also home to U.S. Army Special Operations Command and Army Reserve Command, among others.
Despite the sensitive nature of Fort Liberty, the U.S. government has stood by while companies from the People’s Republic of China have purchased large tracts of land in the base’s immediate vicinity. Chinese ownership of U.S. land has increased by 550% over the past decade, with China having owned no land at all in North Carolina before 2010…