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Genevieve Donnellon-May

Can China and Laos help secure Asia’s food future? A landmark agreement they signed last month could do just that.
Under a cattle crossbreeding agreement, China will export 100,000 doses of frozen semen from the Huaxi breed, along with 10 breeding bulls, to Laos, a landlocked Belt and Road Initiative partner.
Two-way trade is booming, having reached US$8.23 billion last year – a 15.9 per cent year-on-year increase. China could soon surpass Thailand as Laos’ top trading partner. Laos exports agricultural products such as cassava, bananas and sugar to China while importing essential food items, underscoring their mutual reliance.
Agriculture is vital for both economies. In Laos, it accounts for 16.5 per cent of gross domestic product and more than 20 per cent of exports. In China, agriculture represents 16.2 per cent of GDP.
Building on flagship projects such as the US$6 billion China-Laos railway, the Huaxi cattle agreement could reshape bilateral and regional agricultural trade and dynamics. The benefits for Beijing are significant as boosting agriculture and biotechnology exports would benefit both China’s tech sector and beef industry.
The new agreement also supports China’s broader “Food Silk Road” strategy, which seeks to diversify food imports and reduce dependency on any single source. Despite President Xi Jinping’s focus on boosting local production to safeguard the country’s food security, limited arable land and other challenges are driving Chinese reliance on food imports, including beef.


Although China is the world’s largest meat producer, it is also the biggest importer, partly because of gaps in domestic production. Beef production rose 3.5 per cent to almost 7.8 million tonnes in 2024, but the country still imported more than 2.8 million tonnes of beef from countries such as Brazil, the United States, Argentina and Australia.
The cattle agreement could ease pressure on China’s agricultural resources by diversifying beef sources and mitigating global supply chain risks amid Sino-US trade tensions and tit-for-tat tariffs, which now sees China facing a combined total tariff rate of almost 70 per cent. It also allows China to free up land to grow critical staples such as soybeans, of which around 70 per cent are imported.
Laos also stands to benefit. Aside from helping to reduce beef imports, increasing local food production would support the nearly 70 per cent of the working population employed in agriculture. At the same time, these efforts could help address food insecurity, which affects nearly one-third of the country.
Improved agricultural productivity and export potential, coupled with infrastructure like the railway, would strengthen Laos’ position as an emerging agro-exporter in the region and secure its access to China’s lucrative meat import market. A 2022 Sino-Laotian agreement to establish joint cattle production, combined with Vientiane’s cattle export quota of 500,000 to China, indicates a strong interest in this area. It would allow Laos to reduce its reliance on hydropower and mining.


The Huaxi cattle deal aligns with Vientiane’s interest in broader regional connectivity goals, including projects such as the Laos-Vietnam railway and the Thailand-Laos-China rail network. These initiatives aim to bolster Laos’ role as a regional trade hub, enhancing trade within Southeast Asia and the wider Asian region, as outlined in Vientiane’s 2021-25 national development plan.
At the same time, growing Laos-China collaboration highlights a broader regional shift towards China in the agricultural sector. As Southeast Asia’s largest trading partner, China can reinforce its leadership in agricultural innovation and regional integration by linking food security in the region to its advanced agricultural biotechnologies.
Global implications should also be considered. In increasing yields and lowering costs, Chinese agricultural biotechnologies can provide affordable protein to meet rising global demand. This is especially crucial for developing nations seeking cost-effective, high-quality food and technology imports.
In extreme cases, China’s growing presence could challenge the dominance of traditional food exporters such as the US and Australia. This shift could disrupt established trade patterns and alter global food pricing.

Challenges lie ahead. In addition to climate change, which threatens to drive crop failures across Asia, there are concerns about the exclusion of smallholder farmers. These farmers, who made up more than half of agricultural households in Laos in 2020, often lack the capital to engage in hi-tech initiatives such as the cattle agreement and modern agricultural practices. Their exclusion could worsen inequality and poverty, with nearly 17 per cent of Laotians already living in poverty.
Compounding these challenges is Laos’ US$10.5 billion external debt, nearly half of which is owed to China. Concerns persist about Laos’ mounting debt and the country’s reliance on Beijing’s technology and capital. The Huaxi cattle initiative could exacerbate this dependence, making it harder for Vientiane to manage its long-term financial stability while further fuelling narratives of Chinese “debt traps”.
To counter these perceptions, China could move to fill the gap created by the Trump administration’s scaling back of the US Agency for International Development. Doing so would also solidify China’s position as the leader in South-South cooperation especially in agriculture, trade and infrastructure.
This could attract nations hit by US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs – 48 per cent on Laos, 46 per cent on Vietnam and 32 per cent on Indonesia, for instance – who might seek closer ties to mitigate trade disruptions with the US while also tapping into China’s rising agricultural import demand.
The China-Laos partnership could transform regional food security, but managing key concerns such as climate change and external debt will be key to its long-term success.


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The cattle crossbreeding agreement between Beijing and Vientiane is an example of cooperation that could benefit the region


The cattle crossbreeding agreement between Beijing and Vientiane is an example of cooperation that could benefit the region.


China food security

Laos

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How China and Laos are taking the food security bull by the horns

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The cattle crossbreeding agreement between Beijing and Vientiane is an example of cooperation that could benefit the region

The cattle crossbreeding agreement between Beijing and Vientiane is an example of cooperation that could benefit the region