Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 09/2013

Hedging Against an Unstable China: Measures to Enhance Regional and Global Resilience

Alexandre Catta, Aladdin Diakun, Clara Yoon

August 2013

Centre for International Governance Innovation

Abstract

While China’s socio-economic landscape has been transformed over several decades of uninterrupted growth, it now faces significant domestic and international risks and constraints — such as labour insecurity and imbalances, environmental constraints and rising climatic risks, and food insecurity. China’s citizens are demanding a higher standard of living. The ninth CIGI Junior Fellows policy brief in the series, authored by Alexandre Catta, Aladdin Diakun and Clara Yoon, explores the instability of China’s food supply (particularly soy beans) and offers recommendations to major soy producers to set aside reserves to help mitigate supply shocks. The authors also recommend that manufacturers operating in or with China begin mapping their supply chains to identify vulnerabilities, and that international actors open more dialogue channels to prevent China from externalizing internal stresses.