Chinese companies are buying up American businesses and property
You know, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’ve concluded that the United States is not the only imperialist nation.
Imperialism, as Encyclopedia Britannica defines it, is the "state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas." The policy seems very much embraced by China today.
And as our political parties spend so much time with infighting, adversaries seem to be plotting our demise.
I have mentioned in past writings, a neat little book called "The Art of War," written by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu presumably between 475 B.C. and 221 B.C. It is a book on how one might overcome his enemies and expand territory.
One of the main tenets of this book reads "the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
China's economy today is the world's second-largest, trailing only the United States; some say China might be No. 1 by 2030.
If this old Dargan Boy had aspirations like Genghis Khan to rule the entire world, he assuredly would keep "The Art of War" as his favorite bedtime reading source.
For sure, the strategies of Sun Tzu make a lot of sense.
Some people believe the Chinese may have discarded Sun Tzu’s military advice, but if one closely examines the activities of China today, our nation should be cautiously concerned.
Another tenet of this book suggests that a skilled strategist can subdue an enemy’s army without engaging it, take cities without laying siege to them, and overthrow a state without battle.
In America's missteps, it seems we have failed to consider Sun Tzu’s wisdom.
Certainly, our soldiers marching into places like Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Middle East have resulted in a woeful waste of human life and money. Our military sojourns into these areas have been all too disastrous.
While China is building highways of influence across other parts of the globe, our country’s past has been spent on trying to conquer places with bloody battles.
The Chinese have stolen much of our technology by pirating our inventions. In Hong Kong, they have assumed control and recovered its ownership. Chinese leaders have begun to erase freedoms heretofore established.
They are slowly but aggressively reaching out and expanding their control of the world’s seas to feed their hungry nation.
As early American settlers arrived on this continent, they too conquered the West, annihilated the Native Americans and plundered valuable resources.
China’s intent seems to follow a similar approach for the entire world.
While America’s politicians are content with political upheaval and backbiting, Chinese state and corporate objectives are becoming more obvious.
If you haven’t noticed, some of America’s farmland and enterprises are becoming property of Chinese companies.
I bet you’re thinking this old Dargan Boy must be messing with that peyote weed. Or perhaps that blackberry shine has caused one of his mental circuits to malfunction.
Well, perhaps you may want to pause and ponder a few things. Specifically, some politicians can’t see the forest for the trees.
In 2013, a Chinese company decided to purchase the Smithfield Farms operation for a tidy sum of $4.7 billion, a modest investment.
I’m thinking our economic adversary, who enjoys all the fishes in the sea, must have acquired an appetite for maybe the best hams on the planet.
I’m wondering too if one day those same hams might become scarcer on America’s own Christmas tables.
If this adversary likes our hams so much, perhaps it might soon acquire an increasing appetite for chickens, soy beans, potatoes, wheat and other produce grown on large American farms.
Chinese owners now control about 192,000 agricultural acres in the U.S., including land used for farming, ranching and forestry, according to the Agriculture Department.
Can you imagine the majority of American farms one day being owned and operated by Chinese companies? Me neither.
Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suggested there is a "huge problem" related to Chinese property purchases in his own state with some purchasers tied to the Chinese Communist Party.
DeSantis doesn’t believe the Chinese government should be able to purchase these properties.
You know what I’m thinking?
He might be right!
Lloyd "Pete" Waters is a Sharpsburg resident who writes for The Herald-Mail.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Chinese companies are buying up American businesses and property
