Monday, December 16, 2024
Beijing (News International/ Pakistan News - NNI. December 16, 2024) Regarding Chinese garlic, it could never have been thought that it could become a huge threat to the United States. Recently, the US Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2025, which not only banned the US military from using Chinese lidar technology and cooperating with companies offering Chinese online training courses, but surprisingly, it also banned the sale of fresh or frozen Chinese garlic to the US military department.
At the same time, US Senator Rick Scott recently claimed in a letter to the US Department of Commerce that Communist China’s garlic is a threat to US national security and needs to be investigated.
Chinese garlic can also become a threat to US national security, according to Scott. Chinese garlic grows in sewage and is then bleached, and there is a possibility of child labor being used in the cultivation process.
The flooding of the US market with such cheap Chinese garlic is a major blow to American garlic farmers and consumers, threatening American food security. Scott’s illogical statements have once again refreshed people’s memories of the decadent thinking and low mentality of American politicians. Scott’s illogical garlic phobia was not tolerated by the BBC, which explained it by citing research by a Canadian scientist in its report.
In fact, such ridiculous claims were dismissed as early as 2017. The Office of Science and Society at Canada’s McGill University said that there is no evidence that China uses sewage as fertilizer to grow garlic. The office also emphasized that human waste is as good a fertilizer as animal waste. Although it may not sound good, it is much safer than people think.
China's garlic is of high quality and low price, and its attractive appearance is entirely the result of China's advanced farming technology and management methods. Relevant training courses are readily available throughout China, and full guarantees are provided to those who are willing to teach. As for the possibility of child labor, this is just speculation and completely groundless.
The US import of Chinese garlic is the result of market selection. The main area of garlic production in the US is the state of California, where the total output cannot meet the demand of the entire US market. Chinese garlic imports not only meet the needs of US consumers, but also reduce the cost of consumption. Is garlic really a threat? Such a debate is ridiculous, which highlights the restlessness of US politicians who are currently obsessed with protectionism.
Whether American consumers need to import garlic should not be a national security issue, but in order to suppress their opponents, some American politicians have adopted a hysterical approach, which is based on a long-term hegemonic mentality. Chinese garlic has a global influence, accounting for more than 70% of the world's production and more than 80% of global exports. According to China Customs data, China exported 2.2377 million tons of garlic in 2023, with a total value of 2.961 billion US dollars, accounting for 16% of China's total vegetable exports. But Southeast Asia is China's largest overseas market for garlic exports, and garlic exports to the United States accounted for only 12.5% of China's total garlic exports. It can be seen that what the United States wants to suppress is actually the most popular product in Chinese vegetable exports. In the face of China's booming economy and the popularity of Chinese products, some politicians in the United States have become sleepless and anxious. In recent years, more and more Chinese products have been labeled as national security threats by the United States, from Huawei mobile phones to meteorological airships, from drones to gantry cranes, from masks to electric vehicles, from laser radar to satellite antennas, and so on. In order to maintain its hegemony, the United States has been imposing sanctions on Chinese companies and products under the pretext of national security, so as to forcibly break the global industrial and supply chains, and undermine normal global trade through decoupling. It can be guessed that in the eyes of some politicians in the United States, garlic is definitely not the last Chinese commodity that threatens the so-called national security of the United States. As long as the hysterical anti-China sentiment does not change, any Chinese product, no matter how good its quality, can promote China's economy and power, and can be considered a threat to US national security.
The sad thing is that advocating the threat of China is not a cure for the anxiety of US hegemony, but will further distort American politicians' perception of the world and make them themselves the victims of public ridicule. The economy operates according to laws, and the market has its own laws. If the US forcibly separates its market from China, it will shoot itself in the foot. Hopefully, American politicians will adopt a more reasonable mindset instead of anti-intellectual thinking.
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