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China fears food crisis as imports hit $14bn
via ft.com (h/t Lucianne) - EFLBy James Kynge in Beijing - updated: August 22 2004 21:57 China has become a net importer of farm produce, raising concerns at the highest levels of government about the security of the food supply for 1.3bn people as land and water shortages put pressure on domestic grain production. Hu Jintao, China's president, has commissioned urgent studies on food security after evidence in 2003 and this year that China's grain output was dwindling as demand rises in the long term, officials and academics said. China's growing dependence on western imports comes as trade in agriculture has become one of the most bitterly fought-over aspects of the Doha global trade round. The three biggest exporters to China were the US, Canada and Australia. "The leadership is very concerned about food security. They were all young men during the famine of the late 1950s and 1960s. It is not only a strategic issue of dependence on foreign markets for them, it is also a very personal issue of food self-sufficiency," said one academic who advises the government on food security issues. ...more... Uh, oh. Y'know, between their 120 male / 100 female birth ratio, the Three Gorges Dam, flight to the cities resulting in having to import food and growing unemployment, and numerous other bogglers, I'd say the Commie Leadership is kicking ass, wouldn't you? Can you say implosion? Posted by: .com 2004-08-23 |
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