China’s efforts to achieve food security represent a threat to the US, according to an American federal agency focused on trade with Beijing. Officials warn that Chinese firms could attempt to steal intellectual property, cut into Washington’s foodstuff exports profits, undermine supply chains, and even target America’s genetically modified crops with biological warfare.
A report issued this week by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission centers on “China’s interest in US agriculture” and states that Beijing is “augmenting food security through investment abroad” after facing “challenges” in recent years.
“The Chinese government’s domestic efforts, however, are not enough to solve China’s problems,” the report concluded, adding that Beijing is now looking overseas “to address its needs through investments and acquisitions of farmland, animal husbandry, agricultural equipment, and intellectual property (IP), particularly of GM [genetically modified] seeds.”
“While China’s main interest in obtaining GM seeds from the United States is in improving its crop yields, the potential weaponization of agricultural IP is possible,” it said. “Similar to hacking a computer code, Beijing could easily hack the code or DNA of US GM seeds and conduct biowarfare by creating some type of blight that could destroy US crops.”
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“Additionally, China’s illicit acquisitions of GM seeds provides a jumpstart to China’s own development of such seeds, deprives US companies of revenue, and offers an opportunity to discover vulnerabilities in US crops,” the commission added.
