China to deepen agricultural cooperation with U.S
Remarks from China’s Agriculture Minister, Han Chengfu, on a visit to the United States with Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping, who is widely believed to become China’s next president, also has a great interest in agriculture wrote his Phd Thesis at Qinghua University on rural economics.
After 30 years development, China-U.S. agricultural cooperation has laid a solid foundation, with extensive exchanges and cooperation at all levels, the minister said.
According to Han, the agricultural ministries of both countries will push forward cooperation in the areas of food security, sustainable development, agricultural trade and science and technology, creating opportunities for cooperation between agricultural enterprises of the two countries and promoting joint research on agriculture.
He believes that, with the deepening of agricultural cooperation and the increasing openness of agricultural trade and investment, bilateral agricultural cooperation will have broader prospects
I’d like to agriculture form the basis of future DPRK-US relations. Like China and the US, it is an area of common interest for any country and important to the livelihoods of all people regardless of economic or political system. It is also an area where the US has very relevant expertise and a strong foundation in both material and social capital:
The United States is a country with advanced agricultural science, technology and research into such fields as seed breeding and production, and has world-class multinational companies in agriculture, while China has broad market demands as well as leading technologies in food production, biomass energy and agricultural produce processing, said Han.
It will help improving the agricultural science and technology strength of both nations if China and the United States enhance their cooperation, he argued.
China and the United States have conducted effective cooperation in crop plantation, stock raising, fishery, agricultural research and education, agricultural product processing and circulation, he explained.
The two nations have launched more than 500 science and technology exchange programs since they established the working group on agricultural science and technology cooperation in 1980, with around 3,000 experts get involved.
They have maintained effective cooperation between academies and universities of agricultural sciences and nurtured a great number of talents, which have made important contributions for the advancement and development of agricultural science and industry of both nations, said Han.
Lastly, I believe the US (and perhaps Russia) is in a unique position to assist North Korea agriculture and rural industry because there is less of a moral-hazard involved in investment and development. In the long term, North Korean farms in whatever form they emerge will have to compete most fiercely with Chinese and South Korean farmers, in addition being the target of agriculture suppliers in both countries. The aim of the US should be to assist North Korea in not only developing food security through a combination of improved technical development in the agriculture sector, but also through commerce (and the ability to compete with its neighbors). The former will no doubt be easier than the latter, but the former, if properly executed, can serve as a good starting point for the latter.
Source: China.org.cn
