The trade war between the USA and China has shocked many across the world. A disruption to the interdependence of the two largest economies seemed unfathomable. However, in an effort to thwart China's economic practices and boost the US economy, President Trump's administration levied tariffs on Chinese imports shortly after taking office, moving US foreign economic policy from liberalism, practiced for decades, to protectionism. China has retaliated, and the trade war continues today. With conceptual insights from the nationalism literature, we explore the nationalist roots of the trade war from both the US and Chinese perspectives. In the USA, the Trump administration's plan to achieve energy autonomy, decrease reliance on foreign resources, and reinvigorate the manufacturing sector has led to protectionist policies, the othering of China, and hence the trade war. Although reluctant to enter the conflict, China has rebuffed the USA, resisting and counterattacking US actions, owing to a long-felt sense of persecution in the global space and an eagerness to participate fully, and lead in some issue areas, in international affairs. The conflict continues into the COVID-19 era, marked by US scapegoating of China and hits to economic performance. Until both sides are convinced they have achieved their goals, or the USA undergoes an administration change, the conflict will likely continue.
Chapter 5 discusses the plant diseases and pests that affect agricultural production in China, and thus food security. Because diseases of plants and insect pests are anthropocentric concepts, we begin the chapter by defining the functions they play in ecological renewal and the environmental conditions favoring pathogens and pests. Then we explore the broad range of economic damage they do to food crops, with data from recent years. Our examination then turns in some detail to migratory locusts, rice blast disease and wheat rust, which afflicted food crops throughout history and remain of great significance to the Chinese economy today. Other diseases and insect pests have reached epidemic scales, and we treat them by the major food crops they threaten: rice, wheat, maize (corn), potatoes and soybeans. Some plant pathogens not only affect crop yield but also endanger human and animal health, and we consider rice false smut, wheat scab, and other post-harvest diseases. Too, we consider farm cultural practices having an impact on diseases and pests as well as changes in government policy, including improvement of domestic transportation. Climate change is the broadest environmental change that may affect incidence and severity of disease and pest infestation. Finally, we describe the primary mitigation (or control) measures China has adopted. These include regulations and standards, cultural controls, biological control measures, and physical and chemical controls.
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