China plans for a stronger agricultural cooperation with Japan and the Republic of China. China plans to double its agricultural trade capacity to over 30 billion U.S. dollars in the next ten years.
Han Changfu, the Chinese minister of agriculture and rural affairs, announced China's plan during the Third Trilateral Agriculture Ministers' Meeting. He said that the three countries strongly complement each other's agricultural technologies, industries, and markets. He added that the three countries need to deepen their cooperation in agriculture and rural development, agricultural technologies, and agriculture trade.
Han said that, since the establishment of the trilateral agricultural mechanism, the three countries have made in-depth exchanges and cooperation in agricultural policies and animal disease control. The trade between China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea is steadily growing recently. According to records the trade between the countries reached 16.78 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 and it accounted for 8.3 percent of China's total agricultural products trade.
During the meeting, the three countries promised that they will share experiences in many areas such as rural industrial integration, safety control of agricultural products, innovation of agricultural technologies, to guarantee food security in the region, and to push forward the development of resource-saving and environment-friendly agriculture.
China's goal is to promote free trade to counter the protectionist policy of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. This also gives Japan an opportunity to increase shipments to China's large agricultural market.
China is also expected to introduce cutting-edge farming technologies from Japan and South Korea to increase agricultural product imports. This will also expand exports to the Japanese and South Korean markets.
China is currently exerting extra effort in controlling the spreading African swine fever in the country. The virus causes worry to Japan and South Korea. The two countries are eagerly preventing the infections to reach them.
It was agreed during the meeting of the three ministers that they will hold a regular meeting of concerned government officials that control the livestock industry aiming to exchange information that includes the swine fever.
Takamori Yoshikawa, the Japanese agriculture minister, said in a joint news conference that the three ministers confirmed the countries' common ground and their need for mutual cooperation on many issues.
The Japanese Minister was reported to meet with the Chinese Minister to discuss the eradication of illegal fishing by Chinese ships during a bilateral meeting.
