What China Can Learn From the Kaiser.
With less than 10 percent of the planet’s arable land, China produces one-fourth of the world’s grain and feeds one-fifth of the world’s population. Data from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that in 2022, China’s grain output reached a record high of 686.53 million tons [page in Chinese] despite delayed plantings, extreme weather, and COVID-19 disruptions. China ranks first globally in producing cereals (such as corn, wheat, and rice), fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs, and fishery products.
Despite its domestic production, China has been a net importer [DOC] of agricultural products since 2004. Today, it imports more of these products—including soybeans, corn, wheat, rice, and dairy products—than any other country. Between 2000 and 2020, the country’s food self-sufficiency ratio decreased from 93.6 percent to 65.8 percent. Changing diet patterns have also driven up China’s imports of edible oils, sugar, meat, and processed foods. In 2021, the country’s edible oil import-dependency ratio reached nearly 70 percent [article in Chinese], almost as high as its crude oil import dependence.
https://www.cfr.org/article/china-increasingly-relies-imported-food-thats-problem
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At the end of the 19th Century, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to challenge the Royal Navy's supremacy. The naval arms race between Germany and Great Britain quickly made pre-dreadnaught battleships obsolete and the big gunned ships kept getting bigger and more powerful with reach new design.
But the Royal Navy met the challenge and despite losses at the Battle of Jutland in June 1916 two years into World War I, the German navy never attempted a fleet to fleet battle for the rest of the war.
The British blockade of Germany was quite successful and food stocks dwindled in Germany and in other Central Power countries.
If the United States meets China's challenge on the high seas for naval supremecy, China may likely find itself in the same dire need for food in the event of a war as Germany did in World War I. And that does not bode well for a totalitarian regime in a nation with a history of violent revolutions.
Despite its domestic production, China has been a net importer [DOC] of agricultural products since 2004. Today, it imports more of these products—including soybeans, corn, wheat, rice, and dairy products—than any other country. Between 2000 and 2020, the country’s food self-sufficiency ratio decreased from 93.6 percent to 65.8 percent. Changing diet patterns have also driven up China’s imports of edible oils, sugar, meat, and processed foods. In 2021, the country’s edible oil import-dependency ratio reached nearly 70 percent [article in Chinese], almost as high as its crude oil import dependence.
https://www.cfr.org/article/china-increasingly-relies-imported-food-thats-problem
---
At the end of the 19th Century, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to challenge the Royal Navy's supremacy. The naval arms race between Germany and Great Britain quickly made pre-dreadnaught battleships obsolete and the big gunned ships kept getting bigger and more powerful with reach new design.
But the Royal Navy met the challenge and despite losses at the Battle of Jutland in June 1916 two years into World War I, the German navy never attempted a fleet to fleet battle for the rest of the war.
The British blockade of Germany was quite successful and food stocks dwindled in Germany and in other Central Power countries.
If the United States meets China's challenge on the high seas for naval supremecy, China may likely find itself in the same dire need for food in the event of a war as Germany did in World War I. And that does not bode well for a totalitarian regime in a nation with a history of violent revolutions.
36-40, F
