China has a huge population to feed but not enough farmland to do it on its own. Famines and food crises have toppled past rulers. That’s why Xi Jinping has a plan to grow food at home and secure imports from abroad.
Food security is an issue on many global leaders’ plates. The climate phenomenon El Nino could destabilize food security worldwide by increasing the risk of floods, droughts and heat waves. And the conflict raging over the Strait of Hormuz is impacting global supply chains.
Grain exports have also been hit by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the US-Israeli war on Iran is stalling fertilizer shipments. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s trade war and tariffs have also hit food prices.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are trying to get ahead of the game on food security, not least because a history of famines has marked the collective consciousness of the country. Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” caused what is thought to be the worst human-caused famine in history.
And in the Cultural Revolution, Xi Jinping himself reportedly spent many hungry days in rural China. Xi and the CCP have been pushing to grow staples like rice at home, increase China‘s food reserves and also secure imports from abroad.
Brazil has replaced the US as China’s biggest soybean supplier, as China expands in Latin America. And Xi’s infrastructure megaproject, the Belt and Road Initiative, serves as a “Food Silk Road” to help imports reach China without the risk of getting stuck in choke points.
Janina Semenova German journalist and editor with a special focus on Russia
Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
