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China urged to diversify soybean sources to curb reliance on US
- Call for new suppliers and increase in domestic production to minimise inflation and maintain social stability
- Combination of trade war and economic conditions made worse by coronavirus pandemic highlight vulnerability, scholars say
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China should diversify its soybean supply to prevent over-reliance on the US, with the risk of Washington breaking the trade war truce amid worsening ties with Beijing over Covid-19, according to two Chinese scholars.
China had long been too reliant on imported soybeans from the United States and Brazil, and Beijing’s ties with both had worsened since the pandemic, said Li Wei and Zhao Lan, from Renmin University in Beijing.
The reliance on imported soybeans – made worse by a supply chain disrupted by the pandemic – had pushed food prices up in recent months, they said, in an article published on May 15 on the social media account of World Affairs, a Chinese academic journal.
Because soybean prices were heavily reliant on imports, they have a great impact on China’s inflation and social stability, the article said.
US President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he would terminate the phase one trade deal if China did not fulfil its promised purchases of American products over the next two years. It was the first time he had publicly expressed his impatience about the implementation of the deal signed at the White House in January.
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