Chinese ambassador urges U.S. to respect spirit of contract, market rules, fair play

Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng speaks at the China-U.S. Sustainable Agricultural Trade Forum & Contract Signing Ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, the United States, on Oct. 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- To deepen agricultural cooperation with China, the United States should stop politicizing economic issues or overstretching the concept of security, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng has said, in response to Arkansas' recent order requiring Chinese company Syngenta to sell farmland in the state.

At the China-U.S. Sustainable Agricultural Trade Forum &Contract Signing Ceremony held in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa on Monday, the Chinese ambassador pointed out that recently, a top international agriculture company was ordered by a U.S. state to sell the farmland it had owned for 35 years.

The company has employed 4,000 Americans, and has been serving American farmers with advanced agritech across over 40 states. Annually it provides a salary of about 510 million U.S. dollars and purchases 2 billion dollars worth of goods and services. Over the past 53 years of its operation in the United States, never has it posed any national security risk. But now, it is subject to unreasonable suppression simply because it was bought by a Chinese company six years ago, Xie said.

"Just imagine: if such discrimination and unfair treatment happens to an American company investing elsewhere, which risks getting kicked out anytime in disregard of the contract, how would the U.S. government and people feel? Is there any basic respect for the spirit of contract, market rules and fair play?" Xie asked.

The Chinese ambassador noted that China and the United States are facing serious difficulties and challenges in bilateral relations. "To deepen agricultural cooperation, we need to say no to attempts to politicize economic issues or overstretch the concept of security."

Xie said that about 800 million people around the world are still living in hunger, and global food security is facing grave and complex challenges.

"Agricultural cooperation between us will not only bring more food choices to our peoples' tables and more income into farmers' pockets, but also enable us to combat common challenges such as global food security with advanced agritech for the benefit of the entire humanity," he said.