When China worries about food, the world pays
Critics accuse it of hoarding grain
THE COMMUNIST PARTY has a way with words. Take the prosaic topic of food security. The pandemic, geopolitical tensions and heavy rainfall last year (which may lead to a wretched wheat crop) threaten China’s grain supply. Lately officials have been echoing the exhortation of President Xi Jinping that “the people’s rice bowl must be firmly held in their own hands at all times.” In non-party-speak, the government is thinking hard about how to keep the world’s most populous country fed.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “A big appetite”
From the April 9th 2022 edition
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