China Revs Up Agricultural Diplomacy Post-Covid

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. Central Asia's Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are strategic neighbors and prominent Belt and Road countries. China has many farmers growing soybeans, vegetables and other crops in Russia's far eastern oblast whose governor visited March 27. 

A meeting with Australia sought to patch up relations that were frayed when China had a tantrum during the pandemic, and a couple European ministers also showed up (Ireland and France). A February meeting with the U.S. ambassador was reported in a single sentence.

China's food security strategy has begun to look outward. During COVID years Chinese officials began to rant about a global food crisis caused by destabilizing policies taken by other countries. In 2021, the party's "document number one" called for inserting Chinese companies in global supply chains to ensure stable food supplies for China. 

Also in 2021, an essay published in Farmers Daily formulated a strategy of "agricultural cooperation" to propel "the diplomacy of a major country with Chinese characteristics." The author's affiliation with the "Xi Jinping Institute for Diplomatic Thought" shows that the strategy has endorsement from high levels. This year's diplomacy line-up is congruent with the essay's call for engaging in multilateral organizations like the FAO, holding meetings of agriculture ministers from regional groups, and nurturing bilateral relationships with developing countries on the basis of shared concerns about food security, rural poverty alleviation, and climate change. 

The agricultural cooperation strategy claims that China is uniquely qualified to assist developing countries by treating them as equals and seeking mutually beneficial outcomes (implying that the United States and developed countries treat developing countries as inferior and seek to exploit them). The visiting minister from Uzbekistan agreed that there is much to learn from China's experience in poverty reduction.

Food security was brought up in many of the discussions of agricultural cooperation with developing countries and in a meeting with FAO's Director General. China is revving up a regional rice reserve system with Southeast Asia, Korea and Japan this year. 

Apparently without irony, the essay on agricultural cooperation called for increased transparency in farm policy making, food reserve management, and sharing of market information.

The agricultural cooperation strategy emphasizes open trade, including setting up agricultural demonstration bases and model Chinese companies operating abroad. Strengthening trade and investment was a common theme in a speech to a meeting of Southeast Asian officials, discussions of agricultural cooperation with Sierra Leone, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Belarus, Iran, Australia, France, and Samoa. A Chinese official asked for Russian support for Chinese companies and industrial parks operating in Primorsky Kai Oblast. The Irish minister was pleased that China had reopened its market to Ireland's beef.

Technical assistance is a core part of China's agricultural diplomacy. Meetings with Iran and Kazakhstan mentioned initiatives to breed crops tolerant of dry conditions, dryland rice was discussed in Papua New Guinea, and digital and smart agriculture were discussed with Brazil. Latin American diplomats were shown China's national germplasm bank and an innovation park in Beijing. Soil health was a recommended area of cooperation in many meetings. An ominous-sounding conference on "digital rural management" was held with Southeast Asian countries. 

Chinese agriculture ministry meetings with foreign officials so far in 2023:

·         Jan. 13--China-ASEAN agricultural cooperation research conference held in Beijing
·         Feb 15—Minister of Agriculture Tang met Iran’s agriculture minister
·         Feb 17—Minister Tang met the U.S. ambassador in Beijing
·         Feb 26—Vice Minister Ma Youxiang met Belarussian agriculture and food minister
·         Mar 8—Minister Tang met FAO Director General Qu Dongyu (a former Chinese vice minister)
·         Mar 10—China-Russia Fisheries Cooperation committee met in Zhuhai
·         Mar 24—Minister Tang met Brazil's agriculture minister
·         Mar 27—Chief veterinary officer met the governor of Russia’s Primorsky Kai Oblast to discuss strengthening agricultural trade and technology exchanges
·         Mar 27—Minister Tang met diplomats from Latin America and the Caribbean in Beijing to discuss agricultural technology, trade, investment and policy exchanges
·         Mar 27—Minister Tang met the secretary general of ASEAN
·         April 6—Minister Tang met the French Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty in Beijing
·         April 15—Ma Youxiang visited Papua New Guinea where he met ministers of agriculture and fishing resources
·         April 18—Ma Youxiang visited Australia and met the Minister of agriculture, fisheries and forestry and attended the 14^th meeting of the China-Australia Joint Committee on Agriculture
·         April 18—Minister Tang met the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan in Beijing
·         April 18—Minister Tang met Gabon’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Empowerment during the Gabonese president’s visit to Beijing
·         April 20—Ma Youxiang visited Samoa and met the Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
·         April 24—Ma Youxiang met the General Secretary of Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Beijing
·         April 24—Vice Minister Zhang Xingwang led a delegation to participate in the FAO’s council meeting in Rome where they also met with Italian, Mexican and South African officials.
·         April 25—Ma Youxiang met Myanmar’s minister of agriculture, animal husbandry and irrigation, Malaysia’s minister of agriculture and food security, and Singapore’s minister of sustainable development and environment
·         April 25—ASEAN-China Digital Agriculture forum was held in Weifang, Shandong Province
·         April 25—a meeting to launch the "ASEAN-China agricultural development and food security year" was held in Beijing.
·         May 8—Minister Tang met the Papua New Guinea Minister of agriculture, fisheries and ocean resources in Nanjing
·         May 9—a meeting of Pacific Island agriculture and fisheries ministers was held in Nanjing
·         May 11—Ma Youxiang met Kiribati’s minister of fisheries in Nanjing
·         May 12—the 8^th meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization agriculture ministers was held as a video conference, chaired by Ma Youxiang
·         May 23—Ma Youxiang met Kazakhstan’s minister of agriculture in Beijing
·         May 15—Minister Tang met Ireland’s minister of agriculture, food and oceans in Beijing
·         May 16—Ma Youxiang met Solomon Islands minister of fisheries and ocean resources in Beijing
·         May 17—Minister Tang met Sierra Leone’s foreign minister in Beijing