US, Japan express concern about China purchasing land near military bases

The United States and Japan have expressed concern about a Chinese company purchasing land near military bases.

A Chinese company purchased land in Hokkaido near a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force radar site, and Fufeng Group purchased 300 acres of farmland in North Dakota near Grand Forks.

Following the revelation, Sanae Takaichi, then-policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, stated in January that a Chinese company had acquired land in Hokkaido, roughly 35 kilometres away from a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force radar site, and asked if this was not a national security issue, according to Nikkei Asia.

"Is this not a national security issue?" Takaichi asked during a speech to Japan's Lower House Budget Committee. According to Japan's Forestry Agency, ownership and investment in Japan's forest region have increased 4.7-fold from 2010 to the present.

Buyers from Hong Kong, Macao, Australia, Singapore, and the United States purchased land in Hokkaido in 2021.

There were a total of 19 cases recorded. In a piece for Nikkei Asia last month, Ryan Ashley and Alec Rice, active-duty US military officers, described Japan's northernmost main island, Hokkaido, as "a historical hotbed of great power competition, poised to again demonstrate its critical importance in the Pacific.

China has long recognised Hokkaido as a prize jewel of the North Pacific island chain, has increased its economic influence in the region for decades, and is now increasing military cooperation with Russia," they wrote in Nikkei Asia.