Chinese who bought 800 square kilometers of land from the USA: Who is Chen Tianqiao?

In these days when political and commercial tension between China and the USA increases; news in the USA stirred up the country's agenda. It was revealed that billionaire Chen Tianqiao, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, bought land approximately the size of Yalova province (800 square kilometers) in the US State of Oregon. It was also understood that information about the purchase made by Chen in 2015 did not appear in government records, which led to controversy. According to the statement, Chen is the second foreigner with the largest land holding in the USA.

ADMINISTRATOR IN THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

According to Daily Mail, Chen has a fortune of $1 billion, earned from online games. Chen, 50, also owns a $39 million home in Manhattan and a $26 million property in Los Angeles, where he lives. According to reports, he joined the Chinese Communist Party when he was 18 and rose through the party's executive ranks.

Chen Tianqiao (born 1973) is a Chinese businessman and philanthropist. His wealth is estimated at US$4 billion. Chen moved from Shanghai to Singapore in 2009 and then to the Bay Area, California in 2017. He co-founded the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute in 2016.

New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik accused the Biden administration of giving the green light to the sale of US agricultural lands to Chinese citizens, whom the US sees as enemies. Tension is increasing between the USA and China, especially regarding China Sea sovereignty rights and Taiwan. Additionally, there has been a long-standing trade tension between China and the USA. Both countries impose sanctions on the other's companies and citizens.

WHO IS CHEN TIANQIAO?

A native of Zhejiang Province, Chen founded an online gaming company called Shanda Interactive in 1999. Within five years, it had become one of China's largest internet companies. It was later listed on the Nasdaq in the USA. In 2012, Chen transferred the company to the private sector and moved the headquarters of the holding group from China to Singapore.

According to Shanda's website, her investments include public and private equities, venture capital, and real estate. He and his wife, Chrissy Luo, made an initial donation of $115 million to establish the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology in 2016, with a mission to advance understanding of the brain.

A DEPUTY INVESTMENT

Ultra-wealthy investors seeking inflation protection and uncorrelated assets have increasingly flocked to farmland and other rural properties in recent years. The average value of U.S. cropland rose 8.1 percent last year and is up more than a third since 2020, according to the USDA.

The increases are driven by food demand and high inflation, as well as interest in rare properties that offer recreation and investment return potential, such as classic western ranches.

The country's largest landowner is the Emmerson family, which owns the timber empire Sierra Pacific Industries, followed by billionaires John Malone, Ted Turner and Stan Kroenke.

THERE WAS A PROBLEM IN THE USA

Chen Tianqiao owns 198,000 acres (80,127 hectares) of forestland in Oregon, making him the 82nd largest landowner in the United States, according to Land Report's latest rankings.

Chen, 50, bought this land from Fidelity National Financial Ventures in 2015 for $85 million. Oregon tax records last month revealed the real Chen's name as Shanda Asset Management, the same pseudonym as the Singapore-based holding group.

Chen's property in Oregon makes him one of the largest individual landowners in America by a non-U.S. citizen. Only the Canadian Irving family has more. The Irving family is No. 6 on Land Report's list, with more than 2 million acres of Maine timberland.