Meeting spotlights agricultural cooperation

Call for dialogue

Lin Songtian, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said that agricultural trade between the two countries has dropped dramatically in recent years－roughly 37 percent in 2018 and another 12 percent in 2019－while China's agricultural imports grew 9 percent in both years from other parts of the world.

"The deterioration of the bilateral relationship inevitably forced China to seek more stable supplies of agricultural products elsewhere. The fact has proved that win-win cooperation is the only right choice for the development of both countries. Despite some fundamental differences, dialogue is better than confrontation and conducive for better understanding of each other," Lin said.

Minister Xu Xueyuan from the Chinese embassy in Washington said the fact that China and the US are the largest agriculture importers and exporters, respectively, is helpful for a cooperative relationship.

"China imported $24.5 billion in agricultural products from the US in 2020, a 67 percent jump from the previous year, and accounting for almost 20 percent of China's total imports from the US. As China continues to fulfill phase one of the bilateral trade agreement, the nation is expected to import more agricultural products from the US.

"There is also great potential in exchanges of agricultural technology and personnel training. All these will provide a driving force for the development of the China-US relationship," Xu said.

US Department of Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary Jason Hafemeister said that "the United States and China share a long history of agriculture cooperation that dates back to the beginning of bilateral relations in the 1970s".

He said those relations "remain vitally important, especially as once again China is our top market".

Hafemeister said that the US looks forward to working with China to reach zero emissions in agriculture and is "eager to resume talks with China with a specific focus on harnessing new technologies" to feed the globe in a sustainable way.