Opinion | Why Does China Personal So A lot of Ukraine?

“There might be no efficient resolution to the worldwide meals disaster with out reintegrating Ukraine’s meals manufacturing, in addition to the meals and fertilizer produced by Russia, into world markets,” United Nations Secretary-Normal

António Guterres

stated on June 24, warning that the world faces a number of famines this yr and worse in 2023. However Ukrainian grains and different meals gained’t have the ability to enter the world market any time quickly as a result of the ocean route stays blocked by Russia. Ukraine is sending some grain to world markets by way of rail to Poland and Romania, however doing so is laborious and costly. Earlier than the struggle, round 90% of Ukraine’s grain was exported by way of its sea ports.

Over the previous few years, Chinese language patrons have purchased farmland in international locations starting from the U.S. and France to Vietnam. In 2013 Hong Kong-based meals big

WH Group

purchased Smithfield, America’s largest pork producer, and greater than 146,000 acres of Missouri farmland. In the identical yr, Xinjiang Manufacturing and Development Corps purchased 9% of Ukraine’s famously fertile farmland, equal to five% of the nation’s complete territory, with a 50-year lease. (In 2020, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Chinese language firm over human-rights abuses.) Between 2011 and 2020, China purchased almost seven million hectares of farmland world wide. Companies from the U.Ok. purchased almost two million hectares, whereas U.S. and Japanese companies purchased lower than 1,000,000 hectares.

“What issues most is what the Chinese language do with the land,” stated

J. Peter Pham,

a longtime Africa analyst who served because the Trump administration’s envoy to Africa’s Nice Lakes area. Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, “they obtained approval from the earlier regime to take 100,000 hectares to provide for palm oil,” the cultivation of which causes damaging deforestation. “And in Zimbabwe, they’re producing beef for export again to China, which is neither a sustainable nor smart use of farmland in a rustic the place folks go hungry for need of primary staples.”

Lack of arable land is changing into calamitous for international locations better-positioned than Zimbabwe. By April, largely on account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wholesale meals costs had risen 18% from a yr earlier. That’s the most important 12-month enhance in almost 5 many years, Bloomberg studies. In France, wheat costs have doubled since 2020. And China is more likely to need to purchase extra overseas land. It has 21% of the world’s inhabitants however solely 7% of productive farmland.

Ukraine’s destiny highlights the peril of getting one other nation in control of a piece of 1’s territory. Whereas Kyiv could be cautious of an ally of Russia controlling its land, it additionally has to fret that China might divest its holdings abruptly, thereby exacerbating Ukraine’s financial woes.

A invoice sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R., Wash.), presently earlier than the Home Appropriations Committee, proposes to ban Chinese language, Russian, Iranian and North Korean firms from shopping for American farmland. It follows a invoice launched in 2020 by Republican Sens.

Jim Inhofe

and

Thom Tillis,

which might require screening of farmland acquisitions by overseas entities.

Such scrutiny ought to be accompanied by efforts to purchase land again from China and some other strategic rivals. Permitting hostile powers to personal farmland has grow to be too dangerous. Demand for arable land will develop because the local weather modifications. On the identical time, geopolitical confrontation will trigger extra disrupted food-supply chains. Each hectare counts.

Ms. Braw is a fellow on the American Enterprise Institute.