Photo: Shutterstock Modified (GM) plant types are accepted in the US, while the EU is reluctant. What is China’s position on this issue?
Nuanced, according to Yan Jin’s dissertation. On the one hand, China has accepted the import of over fifty GM crops since 2002. On the other, so far, permission to cultivate GM crops in China is withheld, with the exception of some non-food crops such as cotton.
Introduction
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture favours a gradual introduction of GM crops, non-food first, followed by animal feed crops such as maize, and finally, food crops such as rice. The government has invested 35 billion dollars in the development of GM crops. But Chinese consumers are wary of genetically modified products.
Debate
Jin studied the online debate on GMOs on China’s Twitter, the social media platform Weibo from 2013-2020. The debate is dominated by anonymous opposers. Jin identified 778 unambiguous opinions on GM crops, of which 632 were opposed. The source of this opposition is several scandals. The Chinese government was, for example, not transparent on allowing insect-resistant GM rice, upon which Greenpeace revealed in 2014 that GM rice was being cultivated illegally without official permission. This led to outrage on Weibo, China’s largest social media platform with over 200 million users.
Wariness
Jin’s results match previous Chinese research, which showed the Chinese population distrusts the government when it comes to food safety. Consider, for example, the melamine-affair (links to Dutch content). Government officials, most of whom favour GMO, occasionally joined the debate, but Chinese businesses remained silent. Jin advises the government to enter into disputes with opposers online and not merely repeat the advantages of GMO and the scientific proof thereof. Moreover, Jin advises Chinese businesses to enter into the online debate.
The discussion should focus on, for example, new strains of insect-resistant rice obtained through CRISPR-Cas. These strains have a 20 per cent higher yield and significantly reduce the use of insecticides.
Yan Jin obtained a PhD on 17 February from Justus Wesseler, professor of Agricultural Economics.