Russia and Ukraine are both major suppliers of wheat in the world, and after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, food prices soared, and the world faced a food crisis. The U.N.'s World Food Programme says the crisis has plunged some 47 million people into "severe hunger."
On July 22, local time, in the presence of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark agreement in Istanbul, Turkey, aiming to restore Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. Previously, Ukraine's grain exports came to a standstill due to the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and about 20 million tons of grain were shelved in the granary.
However, at this time, the United States came out again to name China and Russia. This time, a number of U.S. officials have once again hyped up the so-called "China hoarding grain" argument, and some people have criticized China for causing food shortages in other countries and even "exacerbating the global food crisis."
For such fallacies, China has used a set of data to prove to the world that Chinese not only firmly holds the rice bowl in its own hands, but also makes positive contributions to the response to global food security problems. On the contrary, it is the United States that is irresponsible.
Screenshot of the Reuters report
According to CNN, Reuters and other media reports, Russia and Ukraine have signed two agreements, the first of which is that Ukraine can transport grain through three Black Sea ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. After leaving port, merchant ships will enter global markets via the security corridor of the Black Sea via Turkey's Bosphorus.
Another deal aims to help Russia sell its fertilizer and grain, and it is unclear how it works. Although U.S. and European sanctions against Russia do not include grain and fertilizer exports, private companies have been reluctant to cooperate with Russia for fear of violating sanctions.
On July 22, in Istanbul, Turkey, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Akar signed the "Ukrainian Food Security Transport Initiative". The picture is from the surging image
Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that in talking about the deal, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, specifically mentioned China and Russia.
She claimed that the United States hoped the agreement "would help alleviate the (food) crisis caused by Russia," adding that "we will pay close attention to ensure that Russia earnestly complies with the agreement."
"This agreement is good for China and good for other countries because they benefit from the wheat being put on the market," she added. My assumption is, yes, they will support it. ”
The Wall Street Journal also extended from Thomas Greenfield's speech that the agreement is expected to help alleviate global concerns about food security, as populous countries, including India and China, have been seeking to protect their own food supplies, putting pressure on small countries.
Source: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, from the surging image
In addition to the US permanent officials to the United Nations, there are even people within the US government who have "pointed out" China. Reuters reported that James O'Brien, director of the State Department's Sanctions Coordination Office, told reporters that the United States would like to see China help deal with the global food crisis.
"We want to see China behave like a big country, providing more food to the poor around the world." O'Brien claimed: "China has been a very active buyer of grain and is hoarding grain... At this moment, hundreds of millions of people are entering a catastrophic phase of food insecurity. ”
"We want to see them play a bigger role, providing food from their own stockpiles and allowing the World Food Programme and other agencies to get food." O'Brien claims it would be much better to see Ukraine's grain shipped to Egypt, Africa and elsewhere.
Source: James O'Brien, director of the U.S. Department of State Sanctions Coordination Office
In fact, the United States has recently accused China several times of hyping up the so-called "China hoarding grain" issue. According to the New York Times, USAID Administrator Samantha Power on July 18 made groundless accusations against China, saying it was hoarding fertilizer and food while millions of people in East Africa were facing hunger, which "exacerbated the global food crisis."
She then pointed the finger at China's foreign policy, declaring that China "cannot sit idly by and watch this global food crisis" and asking China to intervene to "stop Russia." Finally, Bauer also targeted China's grain reserves, asking China to "share information on domestic agricultural stocks and outputs."
Infographic: Samantha Ball, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
In response, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States, responded to the New York Times, emphasizing that China has established a global humanitarian response warehouse and hub, and China has cooperated with the World Food Programme to help develop projects and provide assistance in more than 140 countries and regions.
Liu also criticized the United States and its few allies for manipulating the global food trade. He said that the United States "has not taken any measures to reduce its own food and energy consumption, and even took the opportunity to promote high food prices and seek private interests, which is an extremely irresponsible behavior."
For the Western speculation on China's grain reserves, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has previously said that by 2021 Chinese, China's grain output has been stable at more than 1.3 trillion kilograms for 7 consecutive years, and it is the world's largest grain producer and third largest grain exporter.
On July 21, at the Datian Farm Cooperative in Jiangxiang Town, Nanchang County, Jiangxi Province, an "unmanned harvester" harvesting rice. Pictured from Xinhua News Agency
On July 22, Wang Wenbin reiterated that China has achieved about a quarter of the world's food production and fed one-fifth of the world's population with less than 9% of the world's land, which is itself a major contribution to world food security. Chinese not only firmly hold the rice bowl in their own hands, but also make positive contributions to the response to global food security problems.
He said that over the years, the technical expert group dispatched by China has braved difficulties and gone deep into the fields of the vast developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the South Pacific, directly serving the local rural areas and the vast number of farmers, teaching local farmers planting techniques hand in hand, and has been highly praised by relevant countries. China has carried out agricultural cooperation with more than 140 countries and regions, promoted more than 1,000 agricultural technologies to developing countries, and increased the average crop yield in the project area by 30%-60%, benefiting more than 1.5 million small farmers. Since the beginning of this year, China has provided more than 30,000 tons of emergency humanitarian food aid to developing countries in need.
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