There is a need to identify the key food security threats to the country at different stages.

For decades, China has embarked on a policy of achieving self-sufficiency in grain, influenced by the painful history of periodic famine and out of the distrust towards the international market during the cold war era. In 1996, China introduced its first White Paper on its grain issues, which committed the country to achieve 95 percent grain self-sufficiency rate.

Amid the 2007/2008 global food crisis, China announced its first-ever Mid to Long Term Grain Security Plan (2008-2020). The plan reiterated the goal of raising the country’s grain self-sufficiency rate above 95 percent. As domestic production is falling short of the rapidly rising demand, in early 2014 the Central Government introduced a new food security strategy – domestic supply with “moderate imports”.

… Zhang Hongzhou is an Associate Research Fellow with the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The longer version of the paper was published by the IPP Review on 18 May 2016.