Americans have a major blind spot when it comes to China that is nowhere more evident than in the stunning amount of land Chinese investors own across the U.S.

Whether we like it or not, China's malicious actions are escalating. Decades of intellectual property theft, spying on college campuses and moles in government have empowered Beijing to raise the stakes.

China has taken aggressive actions in the South China Sea. Some days it appears to be a foregone conclusion that the People's Liberation Army will make a move on Taiwan.

Over the last two weeks, American pilots have also been shooting down strange objects over North America -- including a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was taken out of the sky off the coast of South Carolina.

Many Americans have a lot of questions about what is going on, but few answers. We can be almost certain China is behind some or all of the mischief playing out across our skies.

In spite of the harsh reality that China poses an immediate threat to its regional and democratic neighbors, and the fact that it might have military ambitions beyond its front yard, Americans have allowed investors from the country to gobble up real estate inside the U.S.

It is truly alarming.

According to Newsweek, those investors own nearly 384,000 acres of U.S. land. That is roughly twice the size of New York City.

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According to a January report from the Congressional Research Service, Chinese-linked companies owned 0.9 percent of all foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land at the end of 2021.

One such parcel of land is eerily close to a U.S. military installation.

"In 2022, Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group bought 300 acres of land near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota with plans to build a wet corn milling and biofermentation plant," the report stated.

The Grand Forks City Council voted to kill the proposed operation, and for good reason.

China's investment firms are all linked back to the Chinese Communist Party in one way or another. It isn't a stretch to suggest that these foreign landowners might not be interested in developing the property for the benefit of their American neighbors.

China has spent decades putting itself in a position to challenge the U.S. economically and perhaps militarily.

As a country, we've sat by idly as its firms have grabbed up property crucial to our food supply and in sensitive areas.

A number of Republican lawmakers have proposed legislation that would prevent Chinese investors from buying U.S. farmland. Thus far, their efforts have been ignored.

What can no longer be ignored are China's increasingly aggressive actions.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.