On March 23, a series of four on-line sessions of the U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable kicked off, under the title, “Shared Challenges to Shared Future—Finding the Way Forward.” The second session is this evening—on trade; and the final two sessions in April, one on education, and the final meeting on policy dialogue among think tanks. The events involve top agriculture business, national, and state leaders of the U.S. and China , brought together on the platform of co-host U.S. Heartland-China Association (USHCA), based in Missouri, founded in 2003 by former Gov. Bob Holden. The other co-host organization is the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).
The opening welcome remarks given by Holden and CPAFFC President Lin Songtian stressed, as Holden said, that “collaboration over confrontation” should characterize the relations between our nations. Lin stressed that good agriculture relations started between China and the U.S. going back to agri-science and technology initiatives in 1972. He made reference to the recent presidential phone call between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, saying that “dialogue is better than conflict,” and that “we can cooperate on supply chains for common development.”
The speakers’ roster and friendship thrust make this series a dramatic counterpole to the anti-China media frenzy and Washington policy most notably pushed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and now Sec. of State Tony Blinken. Last November, Pompeo went to the heartland state of Minnesota, and gave a presentation in their state capitol building, warning states and localities to have nothing to do with China.
This week, greetings and messages were given to the U.S.-China Roundtable from Minnesota, the Governor and Secretary of State of Iowa, the Secretary of State of Alabama, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood from Illinois and others. From China, the governor and top agriculture official from Hebei Province spoke. Alabama Sec. of State John Merrill made a point of stating his appreciation for China sending masks and protective gear to his state, which reached 17 hospitals. He said that these masks enabled the state to provide help for rural areas, which was otherwise “not possible without China’s help.” Iowa Sec. of State Pate also spoke of Hebei Province donating to Iowa 40,000 masks and tens of thousands of pieces of protective gear.
The March 23 session was addressed by Sui Penfei, Director General of the Department of International Cooperation at the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, and by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Affairs Jason Hafemeister. He referred to China as the top market for U.S. agriculture production, and said that the two nations are “complementary” in this respect. He singled out the importance for world food security of work on biotechnology and genome mapping. In passing, he did make unfortunate mention of “net zero emissions” being a goal for the United States.
