In times of global conflicts and a worsening climate crisis, the Chinese leadership is increasingly concerned about food security and over-dependence on global markets.
To increase productivity of limited agricultural resources, the government is particularly hoping for technological innovations. The ambitious Five-year Plan for Bioec-onomy (2021-2025), published in May 2022, places a strong focus on the development of biotechnology for agriculture and the food sector. The goal is to ensure food security from largely domestic production, improve nutritional values, and reduce the use of agrochemicals. At the same time, the aim is also to play a leading international role in the field of genetic engineering. The focus is on developing competitive "microchips of agriculture", a term which often had been used in recent Chinese publications when referring to plant and animal genetics. After years of restraint in approving genetically modified seeds for food production, the market approval of genetically modified forage plants should soon be possible. So, in April 2022, biosafety certificates for genetically modified corn and soybean varieties have been issued to several Chinese companies for the production and to some international companies for import.
In this context, a monograph published back in 2018 provides important background information. Cong Cao, Professor of Science and Technology Policy at Nottingham University Business School China and author of numerous contributions to Chinese innovation and technology policy, presents in this book the essence of his many years of research on green genetic engineering within and outside China.
Over 200 pages, he provides a systematic and factual account of the path that China has taken in the research and commercialization of genetic engineering in agriculture over the past three decades. In particular, Cao seeks to explore how
