Agricultural diplomacy | SAIGON GIAI PHONG NEWSPAPER

Launched in 2013, the New Silk Road project includes an agricultural aspect that allows for the acceleration of China's food security strategy.

By creating model farms, investing, and collaborating scientifically, Beijing is putting its influence-seeking diplomacy into practice and, most importantly, seeking new political allies. This is evident in China's projects in the Middle East. Relations between China and the Middle East are centered on the oil and gas trade, with the Middle East being China's largest supplier. Given this reality, Beijing hopes to maintain its privileged ties with regional powers through agricultural cooperation.

However, according to the French website areion24.news, agricultural trade between China and the Middle East is limited due to the lack of an alliance. Therefore, China is using technology transfer as a "card" to help countries in the region improve food security and increase agricultural production capacity. In 2015, the China-Arab Agricultural Technology Transfer Center was established in Ningxia.

In 2022, at the China-Arab Summit, Arab nations committed to establishing five joint laboratories for modern agriculture and implementing 50 pilot technical cooperation projects. From 2005 to 2017, China's total investment in Israel was $13.2 billion, of which one-third ($4.4 billion) was directed towards agriculture… It can be said that, for China, the Middle East is not a region that supplies goods that Beijing is lacking, nor is it a region where they can develop agricultural exports.

China's agricultural diplomacy views the Middle East more as a political target, by improving its image and strengthening ties with regions where Beijing's presence remains weak. This is also where the Asian nation has strong commercial interests, particularly in energy.

PEARL

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ngoai-giao-nong-nghiep-post732524.html