GOP governor hopeful pushes anti-China policy after years of Chinese investments
New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli invested in Chinese companies, including an organization that owns U.S. farmland and companies with ties to the Chinese military and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a Fox News Digital review of financial disclosures found.
New Jersey state Sens. Doug Steinhardt and Michael Testa sponsored a bill in 2023 that would restrict "all ownership of agricultural land in state by foreign governments and persons." Ciattarelli told New Jersey voters at a town hall on Thursday that he would sign the bill into law if elected.
"No foreign entities should be able to buy our farmland," Ciattarelli said.
While Ciattarelli said, as governor, he would advocate in the New Jersey legislature against foreign entities owning U.S. farmland, financial disclosures from 2015, 2016 and 2021 revealed the New Jersey Republican's investments in WH Group, a Chinese company that acquired about 146,000 acres of U.S. farmland when they bought Smithfield Foods for approximately $4.7 billion in 2013.
MOVEMENT TO BAN CHINESE FARMLAND PURCHASES NEAR MILITARY BASES GAINS STEAM IN THE SENATE
Ciattarelli disclosed his 2021 investments in WH Group during his second unsuccessful campaign for New Jersey governor. Ciattarelli was the Republican nominee for governor in 2021 but ultimately lost to incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., who is term-limited this year.
"I would hope that counties that have open space funds would beat foreign entities to the farmland and make sure it stays preserved as open space. Until we can sign a law into place, we should know the intentions of any foreign entity when it starts buying up our land," Ciattarelli said Thursday.
The Smithfield Foods CEO confirmed in March 2025 that WH Group, the largest pork company in the world, has seen ownership of U.S. farmland down about 40% in the past two years, from a high of about 145,000 acres to about 85,000 acres.
As a businessman, Ciattarelli has a long and diverse portfolio of investments. In addition to WH Group, Ciattarelli has disclosed investments in Chinese companies that include China National Offshore Oil Corporation Limited, Ping An Insurance, China Lodging Group Limited, China Mobile Limited, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited, NetEase, Inc., and China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited.
Ciattarelli's financial disclosures filed April 3, 2025, revealed he has since divested from these Chinese companies. When reached by Fox News Digital for comment, his campaign declined to explain why he had divested.
One of those companies, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), was added in 2021 to the Entity List by the Department of Commerce, which restricts trade, for threatening national security "by helping China intimidate neighbors in the South China Sea."
In 2024, the Department of Defense identified China Mobile as one of several "Chinese Military Companies Operating in the United States." Trump signed an executive order in 2020, restricting U.S. investments that finance the "People’s Republic of China’s military-industrial complex," which included China Mobile.
The New York Times also reported in 2018 on the Chinese Communist Party's increased control and influence at Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited. Sinopec is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world and a state-owned enterprise run by the Chinese government.
A campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Ciattarelli's financial advisor manages his investment portfolio.
"This is old news - literally from years-old filings that have been public for a long time," Chris Russell, a spokesperson for Ciattarelli's campaign, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In fact, four years ago, one of Jack's opponents tried to attack him on this, and it fell completely flat. That his current opponents are recycling these same lame attacks proves how desperate they are to breathe life into their dead campaigns. The truth is that, just like millions of other New Jerseyans, Jack allows his professional financial advisor to manage his investment portfolio. Voters understand how that works."
Ciattarelli launched his third consecutive Republican gubernatorial campaign in April 2024. He is a businessman and entrepreneur who held local offices on the Raritan Borough Council, the Somerset County Freeholder Board and in the New Jersey State Assembly.
His Republican primary challengers include conservative media commentator Bill Spadea, State Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and a contractor from Burlington County, Justin Barbera. The New Jersey primary will be on June 10.