Palmyra • Gov. Spencer Cox says Utah is working to keep investors tied to the Chinese government from buying land here — and said the state has blocked an effort by a company said to be linked to People’s Liberation Army from buying property near the Provo airport.
“Utah is reaffirming a strong message that it’s been sending for several years: We will not allow adversarial foreign entities to buy up strategic land in our state,” Cox said at a news conference Tuesday near the Utah County land the company was seeking to buy.
The company, Cirrus Aircraft, is majority-owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which Cox said is prohibited from buying land in Utah because of its military ties to the Chinese government.
AVIC manufactures fighter jets, helicopters and drones for the People’s Liberation Army, Cox said — and appears on several federal watchlists and is barred from receiving federal contracts due to national security concerns.
“Their proposed investment in Utah was millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs,” Cox said, adding, “I don’t care: We are not for sale.”
Chinese-owned U.S. farmland is spread across the country, but most of it is in five states: Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah and Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent report on foreign investment in agricultural land. Together, these states account for 93% of all U.S. farmland owned by Chinese investors.
As of the end of 2023, Chinese firms and investors owned 277,336 acres of agricultural land in the United States, the USDA’s report said — including 33,035 acres in Utah.
However, after a Chinese company purchased land near an Air Force base in North Dakota in 2021, members of Congress raised concerns that China could use such acquisitions to influence the U.S. food and energy supply or gain leverage over key markets or critical infrastructure, according to reporting by NPR.
U.S. land purchases by Chinese investors and firms has fueled fears that the Chinese government, through Chinese corporations, could gain control over American assets or access sensitive information, especially when those investors own land near military bases.
“From a national security standpoint, this effort is crucial,” Cox said. “Some of the most important military missions and testing activities in the Department of Defense are conducted right here in Utah, and some of those missions can only happen here.”
Chinese ownership represents only a small fraction of all foreign-held farmland in the United States, the USDA’s report shows.
At the end of 2022, foreign investors owned 43.4 million acres. By the end of 2023, that number had risen to nearly 45 million acres — an increase of 1.5 million acres. Less than 1% of all foreign-owned land in the country is owned by Chinese investors and firms, according to the report.
Still, Rep. Candice Pierucci, R–Riverton, has spearheaded efforts to bar certain foreign entities from purchasing land in Utah.
Pierucci sponsored the Restrictions on Foreign Acquisitions of Land Act, which Cox signed into law in 2023. The act bars companies labeled as foreign military companies or affiliates under the National Defense Authorization Act from acquiring land in the state.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, speaks on efforts to protect Utah’s land from foreign influence during a news conference in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
“Now, not only does the law prohibit the Chinese government from owning land, but also its subsidiaries, its shell companies, its majority-owned companies and any company headquartered in China,” Pierucci said.
When a restricted foreign entity illegally purchases land in Utah, the property owner is notified and given one year to sell the land voluntarily, Pierucci said.
If they don’t, she said, Utah’s Division of Facilities Construction and Management will sell the land and the proceeds will go toward outstanding liens or loans on the property, and the remaining funds are deposited into the state’s General Fund.
“We really gave them an opportunity to either play nice or do it the hard way,” Pierucci said.
The legislation was driven by national security concerns, she said. However, she emphasized that the bill wouldn’t hinder the ability of Chinese nationals to acquire land, unless they were working for a company that was acting on behalf of the Chinese government.
“We have nothing against the Chinese people,” Cox said. “They’re good people. Many of them are Americans who live here, who are our neighbors. They are not the problem. It is the Chinese government, and we want to make that clear.”
In March 2024, Cox signed another bill that expanded Utah’s foreign land ownership restrictions by banning land purchases by entities owned or controlled by the governments of China, Iran, North Korea or Russia.
Cox said the state’s efforts to strengthen its defenses against influence from the Chinese government have turned personal after the closure of Latter-day Saint congregations in Beijing and other Chinese cities.
“Utah’s own story is rooted in the right to worship,” Cox said. “Religious liberty is not a bargaining chip, not for land deals, not for trade and not for diplomacy, Utah will always stand for the rights to worship freely, and we reject any attempt foreign or domestic to silence that right through coercion or pressure.”