As China expands its farm footprint abroad, nations push back against Beijing's intentions

As balloons and other unidentified objects pop up over the sky over the US and are shot down hastily, a bipartisan outrage against China is turning into interesting channels, some of which are probably of far higher actual strategic danger than a drifting balloon. Since 28 January when the balloon was first spotted, Congress has had a hearing on the future of war, which deals with Chinese capabilities, another on critical mineral dependencies on hostile powers, and yet another rather unusual one, a bill from the Republicans which talks of prohibiting the People’s Republic of China from buying agricultural land in the United States. That’s interesting since one would have thought the labyrinthine bureaucracy in the US would have kept the Chinese out. Apparently not. The Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act The Bill put forward by two Republicans has more than 40 cosponsors, and proposes that “the President shall take such actions as may be necessary to prohibit the purchase of public or private agricultural real estate located in the United States by non-resident aliens, foreign businesses, or any agent, trustee, or fiduciary associated with the Government of the People’s Republic of China”. The Senate is considering a  similar bill, introduced last week by Sens. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.) and Jon Tester (D., Mont.), that would ban China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran from owning US farmland. The Washington Free Beacon further quotes US news sources to note that Chinese individuals or companies already have some 383,000 acres of land, which has risen 20-fold since 2010. Some of this is in sensitive areas. The Chinese company Fufeng Group bought hundreds of acres of land 12 miles from an Air Force base in eastern North Dakota. The Air Force termed it “a significant threat to national security,” and thereafter the local City councils voted unanimously to block the Chinese company from opening a corn mill on the property. Australia It’s not just the US of course.  Australia, which has seen a severe downturn in Chinese investment, continues to see Chinese companies enmeshed in not just land but water resources. At present,  14.1 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land is foreign-owned, and China is the largest foreign owner (2.3 per cent). China is also the third-largest stakeholder of Australian water behind Canada and the US, owning 604 gigalitres or 1.5 per cent of the total Australian water entitlement. According to the Australian Taxation Office report in 2021, Chinese ownership dwarfed that of the US or European countries, at 53 million hectares. Agriculture accounts for about 11 per cent of Australian exports, which makes it an important segment. Actual numbers of China-owned land or related areas like dairy farming become immensely difficult when there are Joint ventures, fronts and a bewildering array of paperwork that has locals also on board. New Zealand has been far more alert, with fears sharpened after the government blocked the $56m (£36m) purchase of a local farm by Chinese firm Shanghai Pengxin in 2015. Pengxin has also a controlling stake in a conglomerate which owns 13 dairy farms covering 4,500 hectares. But as local sources observe, the actual land in foreign hands could be as high as 8.7 per cent if forest lands are included. Meanwhile, in 2022, Chinese dairy giant Yilli expanded its production substantially, making it the largest such facility anywhere by a Chinese group. The function was attended by the Minister of Trade and Agriculture, who ‘welcomed’ Beijing’s investment into a world-class facility. That’s the key. When China invests, its benefits are tangible for locals, while its detrimental effects are strategic. That’s less easy to spot until a crisis develops. Chinese expansion Business reports observe that Chinese companies have gained control of 6.48 million hectares of land devoted to agriculture, forestry and mining around the world from 2011 to 2020, according to Landmatrix, a European land monitoring organisation. That figure dwarfs the combined 1.56 million hectares controlled by British companies, the 860,000 hectares held by American companies and the 420,000 hectares controlled by Japanese ones. That includes China’s operations in Myanmar for instance, where it is heavily involved in banana cultivation together with the military junta. Chinese businesses are altering the landscape in Vietnam where it has displaced rubber production with massive pig farms. In Africa, China’s footprint is expectedly growing, with 3,11,150 hectares in total in 15 states in different deals including outright purchase leases etc. What is relatively unknown is that it also has a relatively large footprint in Eastern Europe in Ukraine, Romania Bulgaria and Kazakhstan, while in Tajikistan China is ‘lending a hand’ in terms of efficient farming. In fact, China’s agricultural reach has swept across the “Belt and Road’ areas. Again, that’s most beneficial to local communities but disrupts sovereignty. As debt mounted, in 2011, Dushanbe had to hand over 1,158 square kilometres of territory in the remote Pamir mountain range, and in 2017, allowed a military base in its Gorno-Badakhshan province. In 2022, Tajikistan’s external debt reached $3.3 billion, from which around $2 billion ( 60 per cent of the overall debt) is owed to China’s Exim bank. All of this fits a pattern. The Pakistan case Pakistan is the most vulnerable. As pointed out by Pakistani analysts, agriculture lies at the heart of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor but is left largely to private investors to exploit while government facilitates it leading to a slow erosion of sovereignty. For instance, in 2018, the Sinochem Group Co conducted field trials of hybrid wheat varieties in 230 locations in Pakistan. Since intellectual property rights prevent farmers from saving hybrid seeds, for a country where 50 per cent of arable land is destined for this staple crop, this makes for unhealthy domination. Agrochemical giants have also set up shops in Special Economic Zones, but with great improvement in a lot of farmers, who went on protests in October 2022, due to rising costs of inputs including electricity (which is provided by Chinese firms) and fertilizer (also by China). Meanwhile, in Gilgit Baltistan, local cherry growers are integrating with Chinese expertise in food processing, and Chinese sources point to JVs in these areas. All this could be to the good, except that as Pakistan slides into economic chaos – due in part to high debt to China - this is likely to get worse. There are already reports of land grabbing in Hunza with the active assistance of the Pakistan army, and a large presence of Chinese in the northern areas. In all fairness, the Chinese buying splurge follows the steps of other great power predecessors. The US for instance, holds far more land in its back door of Latin America than China does, or in East Europe, while the United Kingdom holds even more in Europe far though considerably lesser elsewhere. In truth, ‘great powers’ have done exploited others for decades to strengthen their own economies. Africa’s multiple political crises are a testimony to this. The problem with China is that its activities seem to have a very deleterious effect on the recipient state, and of reducing it to near penury. Neither the US and UK can be accused of leaching the state – at least in recent years – of its wealth. To a large extent, democracies are accountable to their people on the methods they adopt to acquire wealth. Second, China cannot feed itself. It has 22 per cent of the world’s population with just 7 per cent of the arable land. Poor policies have led to arable land being swallowed up into urban areas while excessive use of fertiliser has poisoned the waters and soil. Add to this a severe climate change crisis, with farming belts hit by record temperatures and rainfall, as well as drought in the north. Chinese officials acknowledge a surge in “extreme meteorological disasters”. Third, Beijing is already belabouring the ‘victim’ card of past injustices – some imagined and some not – and is all set to ‘regain’ its past glories. Add these ambitions to a hungry stomach and matters get very serious indeed. India needs to pay heed, even as it takes every precaution to see that its lands are safe. The sheer opacity of land deals in India and the easy access of ‘interest groups’ in states is another factor. One example is that of Ecogreens, a Chinese company that has managed to hang on to lucrative contracts in Haryana despite local opposition to dumping waste. In earlier years, states like Haryana were wooing Chinese companies to buy farmland. Since then the government has tightened laws considerably with the Reserve Bank disallowing even citizens of Macau and Hong Kong from buying land without prior approval. They can however lease land. Meanwhile, as the world tightens up against Chinese ingress, expect more pressure on borders where water and resources are in plenty.  In other words watch out in Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan. What was a ‘claim’ yesterday may quickly turn into fact, as Beijing responds to hunger pangs. The author is a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi. She tweets @kartha_tara. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.