Source: SOUTH CHINA'S MORNING POST, 7/8/19



As China’s Qu Dongyu takes up his new position as director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation next month, the burning question among Western embassies is whether Beijing can draw on China’s experience of beating poverty to feed the world. Or will it be more concerned about feeding the power of the Chinese Communist Party? The election of the Chinese vice-minister for agriculture to head the UN’s largest technical agency – with a wide brief ranging from trans-boundary livestock diseases like African swine flu to fisheries and food standards – was a significant victory for Beijing as it seeks to expand its diplomatic influence.

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