GOP governor hopeful pushes anti-China policy after years of Chinese investments

"No foreign entities should be able to buy our farmland," Ciattarelli said.

"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. 

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."

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.