A contributor to agricultural cooperation and food security

There is something peculiar about Western criticism of China's food-security policies. Some claim that Beijing is "distorting" international markets and even encouraging "illegal fishing" through its pursuit of a more diversified food supply chain.

China is being falsely accused of "destabilizing" global food markets just because it has become better at feeding its own people. Friday, being World Food Day, is an opportune moment to examine this underlying proposition that Chinese self-sufficiency is somehow a global liability.

According to the United Nations estimate, about 8 percent of humanity, or nearly 700 million people, suffer from hunger. Although the proportion has declined, the world remains far from achieving its ambition of eliminating hunger by 2030. The central problem is not simply how much food exists, but whether people can afford it, obtain it and rely on its availability.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN's Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum 2026 in Rome on Tuesday offers a practical illustration of what global food security requires: investment rather than recrimination. By combining government priorities, scientific expertise, development-bank financing and private capital, it seeks to overcome the risks that discourage agricultural investment. The lesson is straightforward: tackling hunger requires productive capacity, technological innovation and international cooperation, not geopolitical scapegoating.

China's experience deserves attention. With less than 9 percent of the world's arable land, it feeds more than 1.4 billion people. Its agricultural production accounts for more than one-fifth of global grain output.

Is such capacity a "menace" to global food security? Imagine the contrary: a country with about 17 percent of the world population being unable to meet its basic food requirements and depending heavily on international grain markets. The resulting pressure on prices, supplies and poorer importing countries would be immense. Would such an arrangement satisfy China's critics?

China's grain reserves are therefore not evidence of "distorting" international markets. Instead, for a country of its size, they serve as a buffer against extreme weather conditions and geopolitical disruptions.

Nor is China's "all-encompassing approach to agriculture and food" evidence of "illegal fishing". There is a strictly-implemented regulatory framework governing China's fishing ships, including licensing, monitoring and conservation requirements intended to meet international obligations. Sustainable fisheries require international rules, scientific management and accountability from every fishing nation.

Advances made by China in hybrid rice, improved seed varieties, precision agriculture, mechanization and digital farming demonstrate how productivity can rise despite limited farmland.

China has put forward the Global Development Initiative, which identifies food security as one of eight key areas for cooperation. Through its own dedicated efforts, China has gone from being a recipient of technical assistance from the FAO to being a core contributor. Under the FAO's South-South cooperation framework, no developing country provides more funding, contributes more experts, or implements more projects than China.

The country has carried out agricultural cooperation with over 140 countries and regions, transferred more than 1,000 agricultural technologies to developing countries, and trained over 14,000 professionals in the field of hybrid rice. Through these concrete actions, China is helping to alleviate food shortages across the Global South.

This year's World Food Day theme, "Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow", captures the essential challenge. Innovation means more than realizing laboratory breakthroughs. It includes traditional agricultural knowledge, improved irrigation, efficient distribution, better market information and practical solutions accessible to small farmers.

There is also a commercial angle to the unfair criticism of China. The United States' agricultural exporters understandably want greater access to China's market. Chinese purchases of soybeans and other agricultural products from other countries are welcomed as commercial opportunities. Should that normal international trade be seen as China "distorting" the market?

The world needs both productive domestic agriculture and functioning international markets. The objective should be resilience through diversified supplies, responsible reserves, sustainable production and cooperation.

China's experience is not a universal blueprint. But its capacity to feed its population while sharing agricultural technologies represents an important contribution to global food security.