China should continue using food imports as chip in US trade talks, says former leading agriculture negotiator
- Cheng Guoqiang, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, says China should avoid over reliance on imports and rely mainly on domestic supplies to meet demand
- American President Donald Trump has repeatedly charged that China has not lived up to its promises to buy large quantities of US farm products
China should diversify its imports to secure the food supply for its 1.4 billion people, but should continue to use purchases of US farm products as a “countermeasure” in the trade negotiations, according to a former leading agriculture negotiator.
Cheng Guoqiang, who was part of China’s agriculture negotiations team that led to the country joining the World Organisation in 2001, joins a chorus of voices who say that Beijing should never compromise on food security in trade talks with Washington.
Cheng, who helped draft agriculture policy for China’s top leadership until 2009, said that the trade war has “raised new challenges for China’s economic security, including food supply security”.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly charged that China has not lived up to its promises to buy large quantities of US farm products, while China has responded that American tariffs have made the price of US farm products uncompetitive for Chinese buyers.
We still have to have this countermeasure, but we don’t need to say too much about it
“We still have to have this countermeasure, but we don’t need to say too much about it,” added Cheng, who is a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, on the sidelines of a corn industry conference in the northern Chinese port city of Dalian on Wednesday.