Dim Sums: Agricultural Markets in China

China's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian met U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Washington January 18 to resume the Joint Committee on Cooperation in Agriculture (JCCA), a forum for discussing exchanges between the United States and China that had been dormant since 2015. During the same trip Tang also visited Mexico and the Dominican Republic to discuss closer agricultural exchanges with developing countries on the U.S. doorstep. Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian met U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack January 18. Source: China MARA . In the official USDA news release  about his meeting with Minister Tang, Secretary Vilsack emphasized China's role as an export market, noting that he discussed market access issues with Minister Tang and expressed hope that the bilateral relationship will expand and improve market access opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers in China. The USDA statement also said discussion...

This year dozens of agricultural officials have come to China to talk about cooperation. A compilation of news reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs web site shows 29 meetings with foreign dignitaries (full list below), mostly visits with Minister Tang Renjian in Beijing, but also including Vice Minister Ma Youxiang's trip to the western pacific and Australia, regional meetings of Southeast Asian and Pacific Island nations hosted in China, a meeting with Russia on fishing, and a meeting with Latin American diplomats to show off Chinese technology at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.  China's new friends include many developing countries in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Africa. Pacific Islands--Samoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati--are well represented, reflecting China's hunger for fish, ambitions to control the Pacific right up to Australia's doorstep, and rewards for switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. C...