The Ripon Advance: Republicans sound alarm about China’s potential control over global food supply chains

Concerned about strategic developments in Chinese biotechnology innovation, especially as they relate to agriculture, U.S. Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) recently led several GOP colleagues in requesting that a focused federal analysis be conducted on the potential implications of these advancements and their potential to disrupt global food supply chains.

“These developments are related to the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to dominate emerging fields like innovative proteins, which includes cultivated meats,” the lawmakers wrote in a Sept. 26 letter sent to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the director of Homeland Security at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The 11 lawmakers requested that the Office of the DNI and the USDA Office of Homeland Security coordinate to conduct the analysis and provide Congress with recommendations on strategic measures the United States should consider to ensure continued leadership and resilience in this critical sector.

Among the members who also signed the letter were U.S. Reps. Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

They pointed to this year’s DNI Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, which issued a stark warning about China’s strategic advancements and highlighted China’s use of synthetic biology and agricultural biotechnology as a targeted attempt to dominate global food supply chains.

“The report identified China as a formidable competitor aspiring to lead the broader biotechnological landscape,” wrote the members. “This reality has only been compounded by recent Chinese activity in the innovative protein market, most notably by the inclusion of cultivated meat research and development in China’s five-year agricultural plan.”

Should China secure a dominant position in the global innovative protein market, they added, it could fundamentally alter food supply dynamics worldwide and give China control of key aspects of global food security dynamics. 

“Put simply, we cannot allow China to control more of the world’s food supply than it already does,” Rep. Garbarino, Rep. Newhouse, and their colleagues wrote. “To cede American leadership in the global innovative protein market to foreign adversaries like China is to forfeit the food security of the United States and its allies.”