[Explanation] Economic and trade cooperation, especially agricultural cooperation, is the ballast stone of Sino-US relations.

Known as the "granary of the United States", Iowa can be described as "the foundation of the old tree". In 1983, it signed a sister province-state agreement with Hebei Province and has always maintained the vitality of exchanges with China.

Promoting mutually beneficial agricultural cooperation has always been the general expectation of the two peoples.

　　Kenneth Quinn, honorary chairman of the World Food Prize Foundation, is a witness to the agricultural exchanges and cooperation between the United States and China.

During his 20 years as president of the World Food Prize Foundation from 2000 to 2020, he was involved in many agricultural collaborations between the United States and China.

Recently, Quinn accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East-West Question", interpreting topics such as agricultural cooperation between the two countries, agricultural trade, and global food security.

　　[Concurrent] Quinn, Honorary President of the World Food Prize Foundation

　　In 1979, a delegation of American governors visited China.

In 1980, a delegation of Chinese governors returned to the United States, so I had the opportunity to accompany the governor and other governors on a tour of Iowa.

In 2012, I think it was one of the real highs in US-China relations since the normalization of relations in 1979.

A seminar was held in this building and the "Sino-US Agricultural Strategic Cooperation Plan" was signed.

It was signed by then-USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and visiting Chinese Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu.

They had lunch at this room, this table, and signed the agreement.

So in my opinion, everything is positive, everything is at the highest level.

　　[Question 1] What do you think of the agricultural cooperation between the US and China?

　　[Concurrent] Quinn, Honorary President of the World Food Prize Foundation

　　10 years later, a lot has changed, and for some reason, a lot of troubles and problems have arisen in Sino-US relations.

Of course, agriculture is the main way for us to make progress, improve and strengthen our bilateral relationship, and I have no doubts about that.

We still have to find a way to work together on agriculture and food.

　　During my career, I've learned how important agriculture (cooperation) is to achieving peace and helping people lift themselves out of poverty, and how transformative it can be.

Cooperation between China and the United States is absolutely necessary.

　　[Question 2] How do you think about tariffs when talking about collaboration?

　　[Concurrent] Quinn, Honorary President of the World Food Prize Foundation

　　In general, I think tariffs will hinder the development of agricultural trade.

I prefer that we have open markets, free trade, and open trade.

In this regard, of course (also do a good job) intellectual property protection.

　　[Question 3] Will agricultural cooperation have a positive impact on bilateral relations?

　　[Concurrent] Quinn, Honorary President of the World Food Prize Foundation

　　(If) you find a place where you can work together, real cooperation, that will have a positive impact on all aspects of the relationship between the two countries.

So now that we've identified this positive impact, we now know that we should promote and strengthen cooperation.

　　There are some cutting-edge fields in agricultural science.

The US and China should work together, and maybe in a particular country or a particular province something can be done.

If the two countries work together to produce research results, they should report jointly and have measures in place to assess the validity of these recommendations and ideas.

　　(Reported by Wang Fan, Chen Mengtong, and Li Jiali)

Responsible editor: [Wang Kai]