The US has become terrifyingly vulnerable to Chinese drone sabotage

Telegraph

09-07-2025

The Trump administration has embarked on measures to ban sales of US farmland to 'foreign adversaries' – in this instance, particularly to China. It is a welcome move – if overdue. Though China owns much less US land, often via corporations, than numerous other countries, concern has been growing that it could become a potential foothold for hostile activity, beyond any impact on food security. In the digitalised battlefield of drones and communications disruption, an unobserved presence on the ground can enable devastating sabotage – as Russia discovered to its cost during Ukraine's recent strikes on its strategic bomber fleet.
Beijing has thus far been able to exploit some serious loopholes in the law. In the past, presidential orders have been used to attempt to prevent China from buying land too close to US military sites. But because the committee on foreign investment in the US (CFIUS) was primarily tasked with blocking PRC acquisition of sensitive US businesses, its jurisdiction did not address the purchase of greenfield sites.
This led to a farcical situation in 2021, when a Chinese firm bought land about 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, currently focused on strategic air and space reconnaissance using drones and satellites. In June 2023, CFIUS determined that it lacked the authority to intervene, and other mechanisms had to be used to deal with the problem.
The US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, commented this week that foreign purchases of US farmland were being used as 'weapons to be turned against us'. At Tuesday's briefing on the National Farm Security Action Plan, she said that it was 'time to take back our land'.
With the Trump administration's new decision, she will join the CFIUS and is required to report to the committee any purchase of land by foreign adversaries that may pose a risk to national security. Future Chinese land purchases will likely be banned outright, while the administration has declared its intention to 'claw back' land that China already owns.
This gives teeth to President Trump's long-term planning. Shortly after returning to office, he signed a memorandum instructing CFIUS to restrict Chinese investment in critical sectors including technology, infrastructure, energy, agriculture and raw materials.
This broad-spectrum approach to combatting China correctly reflects Beijing's own many-sided assault on its rivals. At Wednesday's Chinese ministry of foreign affairs press briefing, the spokesperson criticised the US decision, which 'would ultimately harm the interests of the US itself'. This language is conventional, but more hostile reactions will likely follow.
Washington cannot afford to run scared of China's threats, however, particularly if it leaves the US vulnerable to new and emerging threats. The experience of the UK, in this regard, is instructive. There are several strategic US air force bases in Britain. In November 2024, numerous drones were detected breaching the restricted air space of several such bases.
The suspicion is that the drones were conducting surveillance for a state actor. If so, it is likely that the operation was Russian. Other drone activity has been reported on US soil, with a particular peak in December 2024 which has been investigated by the FBI with support from other agencies. The chairman of the US House foreign affairs committee has suggested that in this case China may have been responsible.
In the UK, while the Government recently accepted that the Chinese threat has increased on a broad front, the policy response has been lacking. Britain's China policy remains fundamentally unrealistic, naive and aspirational. Above all, it lacks honesty as to the adversarial threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party's strategic ambitions. Britain evidently has much to learn from the US.