Iowa - China Diplomacy Can Promote Peace Through Agriculture in Africa
By Ken Quinn - January 28, 2024
Des
Moines may be just the place for another citizen diplomacy initiative
to bring officials together, to create a U.S.-China-Africa partnership
to uplift African agriculture.
The
impact of Iowa’s "Citizen Diplomacy "was on full display at the Nov. 15
dinner in San Francisco that featured a keynote address by Chinese
president Xi Jinping, which drew over 600 of the nation’s most prominent
business leaders.
Consider that potentially the most influential American at that event was not Elon Musk or Apple CEO Tim Cook, but rather an elderly, unassuming woman from Muscatine, Iowa, named Sarah Lande.
Sarah was one of about 10 Iowans, considered “Old Friends” of President Xi from their role in hosting the then-31-year-old county level party official from Hebei Province when he visited the Hawkeye State in 1985, who were invited to attend the dinner as special guests.
Consider that potentially the most influential American at that event was not Elon Musk or Apple CEO Tim Cook, but rather an elderly, unassuming woman from Muscatine, Iowa, named Sarah Lande.
Sarah was one of about 10 Iowans, considered “Old Friends” of President Xi from their role in hosting the then-31-year-old county level party official from Hebei Province when he visited the Hawkeye State in 1985, who were invited to attend the dinner as special guests.
Most
significantly, that Iowa group, which also included Ambassador and
former governor Terry Branstad, also took part in a small pre-dinner
private gathering with Xi. I participated based on my role in escorting
Xi’s father around Iowa in 1980, and then hosting the U.S.-China High
Level Agricultural Symposium at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates
in Des Moines in 2012, at which Vice President Xi delivered the keynote
address.
There
were about 20 additional Americans from other parts of the country who,
based on their own previous relationships with Xi, were also included
in that private San Francisco event. Among them was former Missouri Gov.
Bob Holden, the chair of the U.S. Heartland China Association (USHCA),
with which I serve as a strategic adviser.
In delivering his
major address to the prominent business leaders in attendance, Xi
recalled his Iowa experiences four decades ago, even remembering the
street address of the Muscatine family that allowed him to sleep in
their son’s bedroom. He also mentioned Gov. Robert Ray by name, noting
his early visit to China in the 1970s.
In the key line of his address, however, he said that the fundamental question is “Are we adversaries or are we partners?”
When
I was subsequently interviewed by the Des Moines Register, I observed
that based on statements by presidential candidates in the run-up to the
Iowa Caucuses, it seemed likely that the official American view will be
to see China and the Chinese Communist Party as an adversary. This
could, in turn, put our two countries on a collision course, with
potentially ominous implications for global stability.
In
such a situation where the rigid political environment in both capitals
seems unlikely to facilitate a course correction, one of the most
hopeful paths forward may be to return to the potential of citizen
diplomacy and sub-national initiatives to reset the trajectory of
Sino-American relations. In that regard, Iowa, through its 50-year
legacy of citizen diplomacy with China dating back to 1974 when World
Food Prize founder Norman Borlaug first visited China to share his
agricultural research, may be best situated to impact this situation.
In
every speech and public presentation I make, I stress that the single
greatest challenge that humanity will face is: whether we can
sustainably and nutritiously feed the 9 billion to 10 billion people who
will be on our planet by the year 2046, when Iowa will celebrate its
bicentennial.
Africa will represent the most significant part of the challenge in that there will be an additional 1 billion people on that continent over the next quarter-century.
Africa has a broad array of exceptional leaders at the forefront of development. Among them are: Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate and the current president of the African Development Bank (AFDB); Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA); and former Rwandan Minister of Agriculture Gerardine Mukeshimana, now the vice president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); all of whom have taken part in the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines.
But what would be an agricultural initiative that could have that necessary global impact and would be politically acceptable in the U.S.?
Africa will represent the most significant part of the challenge in that there will be an additional 1 billion people on that continent over the next quarter-century.
Africa has a broad array of exceptional leaders at the forefront of development. Among them are: Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate and the current president of the African Development Bank (AFDB); Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA); and former Rwandan Minister of Agriculture Gerardine Mukeshimana, now the vice president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); all of whom have taken part in the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines.
But what would be an agricultural initiative that could have that necessary global impact and would be politically acceptable in the U.S.?
Borlaug,
the "Father of the Green Revolution" and founder of the World Food
Prize, said: "If you want to feed Africa, build roads."
I specifically proposed the upgrading of rural farm-to-market roads as the key to both African development and Sino-American collaboration in my presentation at the April, 2022 U.S.-China Agricultural Dialogue that the USHCA organized at the Hall of Laureates. Recalling Xi's speech in that same building 10 years earlier, and with three American and Chinese ambassadors and other government officials participating virtually and in person, I emphasized that upgrading roads was an essential aspect of China's spectacular economic growth. I noted that when I first arrived in China in 1979, improved rural road penetration was at less than 50%, and now 45 years later, it is near 100%. During that same timeframe, poverty levels in China went from over 70% to near zero. This citizen diplomacy initiative organized by the nonpartisan, nonprofit USHCA outside Washington, D.C., allowed government officials to interact in a positive atmosphere when such meetings were almost impossible in either nation’s capital.
With the legacy of Sarah Lande and other “Old Friends” from Xi’s 1985 visit, combined with the role of the World Food Prize now led by Branstad, and the history of Ray and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and the role of Holden and the USHCA, Des Moines may be just the place for another citizen diplomacy initiative to bring officials from both sides together in conjunction with those above African leaders, to create a U.S.-China-Africa partnership to uplift African agriculture and promote “Peace Through Agriculture.”
I specifically proposed the upgrading of rural farm-to-market roads as the key to both African development and Sino-American collaboration in my presentation at the April, 2022 U.S.-China Agricultural Dialogue that the USHCA organized at the Hall of Laureates. Recalling Xi's speech in that same building 10 years earlier, and with three American and Chinese ambassadors and other government officials participating virtually and in person, I emphasized that upgrading roads was an essential aspect of China's spectacular economic growth. I noted that when I first arrived in China in 1979, improved rural road penetration was at less than 50%, and now 45 years later, it is near 100%. During that same timeframe, poverty levels in China went from over 70% to near zero. This citizen diplomacy initiative organized by the nonpartisan, nonprofit USHCA outside Washington, D.C., allowed government officials to interact in a positive atmosphere when such meetings were almost impossible in either nation’s capital.
With the legacy of Sarah Lande and other “Old Friends” from Xi’s 1985 visit, combined with the role of the World Food Prize now led by Branstad, and the history of Ray and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and the role of Holden and the USHCA, Des Moines may be just the place for another citizen diplomacy initiative to bring officials from both sides together in conjunction with those above African leaders, to create a U.S.-China-Africa partnership to uplift African agriculture and promote “Peace Through Agriculture.”
Given
the many sharp political divisions in our state and our country, it
would be particularly poignant to have “citizen diplomats” from both
political parties join in launching this “Road to Peace Through
Agriculture” initiative, which does not involve any sensitive
technology, and which could, following the inspiration of Borlaug,
uplift the lives of a billion Africans through improved rural roads.
With China and the United States committed to provide sustained support to upgrading rural infrastructure in Africa, Citizen Diplomacy will not only be helping China and America remain at peace, but also help ensure that all 9 billion to 10 billion people on our planet will have access to sufficient sustainably produced nutritious food, thus meeting this great global challenge.
With China and the United States committed to provide sustained support to upgrading rural infrastructure in Africa, Citizen Diplomacy will not only be helping China and America remain at peace, but also help ensure that all 9 billion to 10 billion people on our planet will have access to sufficient sustainably produced nutritious food, thus meeting this great global challenge.
Ken Quinn
served as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. State Department for 32
years, followed by two decades as President of the World Food Prize
Foundation. He retired from the Foundation in 2020 with the title of
president emeritus.
About 'Citizen Diplomacy'
In November 2023, Iowa PBS released a new documentary, “Citizen Diplomacy,” that features heartening acts of person-to-person contact between Iowans and individuals from: Russia, at the height of the Cold War, Japan, in the wake of World War II; and China, in 1985. The documentary movingly illustrates the consequential impact individuals can have on international relations. The documentary can be viewed at iowapbs.org.