The Right Way: Top of the News

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Top of the News

China Is Making a Big Move In Our Own Backyard — But No One Is Talking About It

We talk a lot about China buying up U.S. farmland and what a problem that is for our own national security. In recent years, many of us — though not enough if you ask me — have been warning about how much influence Beijing has over some other countries in the Western Hemisphere, and how it would be in our best interest to do what we can to stop that. It's the number one reason why I have no problem with Donald Trump doing away with Nicolás Maduro, allowing for the rightfully elected president, Edmundo González, to step in and take his place. I think this would create a domino effect throughout the region, but that's not what I'm writing about today.

What I do want to write about is something that no one beyond the Latin American media seems to notice: how much land China controls in Nicaragua. As of October 7, that number is around 1,482,632 acres, give or take — some sources say it's actually much, much higher. To put that in perspective, it's roughly the size of the state of Delaware. Chinese land ownership in the U.S. peaked at around 383,935 acres in 2021.

It all started in 2021, when Nicaragua's dictator, Daniel Ortega, cut ties with Taiwan and signed on to China's sketchy Belt and Road Initiative. China sweetened its side of the deal with the promise of foreign aid, investment, and trade deals. Meanwhile, the U.S. and other Western nations were sanctioning Ortega's Marxist regime. By 2023, the regime began granting land concessions to China, and as of this moment, China controls roughly 5% of the country's land. At least 43 concessions were made in two years, and there is no telling how many more there are to come.