Foreign Affairs

TexasTowelie

(116,744 posts) Mon Sep 9, 2024, 04:21 AM Sep 9

China Has a Secret Empire in Eastern Europe and South America...And No One Talks About It - Jack Chapple

This is some farmland in Ukraine. A nation known as the breadbasket of Europe. 10% of the global wheat market, 15% of the global corn market, and 50% of the world’s sunflower oil comes from fields just like this, all over the country. However, a significant portion of these fields are not owned by Ukraine. They are actually owned by China. One prominent example was as to why, is In 2013, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a Chinese state-owned company, struck a deal to lease 7 and a half million acres of Ukrainian farmland—nearly 9% of all land in Ukraine

Think about that, one Chinese company, owning almost a tenth of the land of another country. essentially becoming the largest landowner and food producer of Ukraine. And this is not just an isolated incident. This is has been happening all over the world for decades. And eventually as I started mapping all of this out, it became apparent, that China has a secret empire, that no one really talks about…

Once upon a time, in a world not yet dominated by smartphones, social media, and 24/7 surveillance, China was busy figuring out how to feed more than a billion mouths. The country was already a global economic powerhouse-in-waiting, but there was a nagging issue: the land situation back home wasn’t exactly what you'd call abundant. With 9% of the world’s arable land and 20% of its population, China was in a bit of a food pickle. The vast landscapes of rolling rice paddies and serene farmland couldn't keep up with an exploding population and a growing middle class with new culinary demands. As the decades passed and China continued to industrialize, urbanize, and devour its own resources, the leadership in Beijing had a eureka moment: Why not just buy the world’s farmland? Problem solved!

Let’s rewind a little to understand how we got here.

In the mid-20th century, China’s land and agricultural strategy was a very domestic affair. After all, the country was dealing with its own tumultuous history of famine and industrialization (thanks, Great Leap Forward). By the 1980s, things started to look better, with the country adopting a series of economic reforms that finally started to fill its grain silos. But even as the country’s agricultural output grew, the alarm bells started ringing in Beijing: Chinese soil, long exploited and degraded, was becoming less productive. Desertification was creeping in. Rivers were running dry. Add to this the rapid urbanization that was gobbling up arable land faster than you can say "ghost city," and the picture was becoming clear—China needed a Plan B.

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China Has a Secret Empire in Eastern Europe and South America...And No One Talks About It - Jack Chapple (Original Post) TexasTowelie Sep 9 OP

Umm. what about their efforts in Africa? Geebus... hlthe2b Sep 9 #1

Yes Africa too. They have stationed military troops there for decades. Irish_Dem Sep 9 #2

The video concentrated on one of the greatest vulnerabilities of China TexasTowelie Sep 9 #4

Being the only country with a Billion human beings, what's so wrong about China's insuring a food supply, since rice ancianita Sep 9 #3

One reason why people have ascribed evil intentions on China comes from their own government backed map TexasTowelie Sep 9 #5

Yes, that's been known for a long time, particularly the aggressive words & deeds re 'owning' Taiwan. ancianita Sep 9 #6

hlthe2b

(106,328 posts)

1. Umm. what about their efforts in Africa? Geebus...

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Sep 9, 2024, 05:35 AM

Sep 9

Irish_Dem

(57,325 posts)

2. Yes Africa too. They have stationed military troops there for decades.

Reply to hlthe2b (Reply #1)

Mon Sep 9, 2024, 05:50 AM

Sep 9

The US is clueless about China.

TexasTowelie

(116,744 posts)

4. The video concentrated on one of the greatest vulnerabilities of China

Reply to hlthe2b (Reply #1)

Mon Sep 9, 2024, 06:39 AM

Sep 9

which is providing a secure food supply because it would threaten the CCP seeing that the country is a net food importer which most of Africa is in the same situation. China acquires fertile land capable of providing bountiful harvests and there is enough redundancy in their providers that it can tolerate weather predicaments or other countries leveraging those supplies. Meanwhile, control of the food supply also provides China leverage on locally paying the food suppliers and more at a macroeconomic level by also influencing other industries such as food production equipment and transportation to influencing commodity prices at market.

ancianita

(38,514 posts)

3. Being the only country with a Billion human beings, what's so wrong about China's insuring a food supply, since rice

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Sep 9, 2024, 06:17 AM

Sep 9

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2024, 07:02 AM - Edit history (1)

will be next to impossible to adapt to climate change. That 10% of a country's land -- which that country sold to China of its own free will -- some sort of evil threat? At least China hasn't attacked the countries whose excess resources it needs; it simply cuts deals to create business and supply its food needs.

TexasTowelie

(116,744 posts)

5. One reason why people have ascribed evil intentions on China comes from their own government backed map

Reply to ancianita (Reply #3)

Mon Sep 9, 2024, 07:16 AM

Sep 9

that claims Taiwan, most of the South China Sea, parts of Russia and India as their own. I doubt that all of those territories are going to be relinquished voluntarily.

I'm not opposed to any country securing their food supply, but when the infrastructure for the food producer and transporter of those goods can be used as economic leverage then I see the point made in the video. For example, it could be calamitous if China controlled a significant part of the grain markets worldwide while there was a major drought in the US/Canada Grain Belt states.

BTW, India has a large population than China with 1.4 billion human beings.

ancianita

(38,514 posts)

6. Yes, that's been known for a long time, particularly the aggressive words & deeds re 'owning' Taiwan.

Reply to TexasTowelie (Reply #5)

Mon Sep 9, 2024, 10:42 AM

Sep 9

And while PRC "makes moves" around the South China Sea & Taiwan, it also knows that it risks losing stability in its long supply chains. So PRC announces, but pays attention to trade, thus, peace.

I don't see any economic leverage used by China; instead, such leverage lies more with those countries from which China's supply chains originate. Particularly with food. China's supply chains are THE longest on the planet -- 6,000-8000 miles long, depending -- so even more at risk of disruption than are those of any other nation, such that shortages and famines can easily happen in China when any ONE section is disrupted; 2 or more supply chains disrupted would multiply the effects on China. Add to those the effects if/when U.S. sanctions China. Which is close to what Biden did when he moved American chip tech folks out of China and back home.
So this "empire" rhetoric doesn't line up with how China needs stabile trade with the West just to hold steady, nevermind grow.

The example of Canada and the U.S. is actually and example of THE best and safest two countries that have intra- and intercontinental trade, with relatively short supply chains. According to climate scientists and geopoliticial experts, Canada and the U.S. will suffer the least on planet Earth even when the globe is hit with the worst of climate effects. These facts contribute to why the big increase in Chinese and international visa overstayers to this continent and northern EU.

(This Empire talk... I really wish we didn't have posts that impute evil motives through lingo; othewise we're no better than our politic opponents or corporate hypesters. )

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