A stream of public criticism from retired military officials against China’s rising engagement with genetically modified food doesn’t amount to institutional hostility against the science, a senior adviser to Beijing’s cabinet said. Ye Xingqing, director of the rural economy department at the State Council Development Research Center, said Beijing still regards GMO as the kind of cutting-edge global technology the country must pursue, at least in research, despite vocal sections of public opinion that oppose broadening the use of GMO food for human use.
Recent essays published in local newspapers by some of China’s former brass drew attention to fears that GMOs might be a way by which a Western conspiracy, led by the U.S., could further undermine China’s security. But this is mostly coming from some retired officers writing on an issue outside their areas of expertise, Mr. Ye told the Wall Street Journal at a China Europe International Business School conference on Sunday. “They think GMOs are a technology with ulterior motives, and that Americans are laying a trap for the Chinese. But not all ordinary Chinese support this opinion, and Chinese officials also feel that GMO is essentially a technological issue, not a political question or one with ulterior motives,” Mr. Ye said.
Read the full, original article: Don’t Turn Your Back on GMOs Yet, Adviser Urges China
