Research on China’s Agricultural Overseas Investment in Southeast Asia under The Belt and Road Initiative

Faced with the dual challenges of food demand pressure brought by population growth and increasing scarcity of agricultural resources, China has continuously increased overseas agricultural investment under the “Belt and Road” initiative, aiming to ensure national food security and expand international agricultural cooperation. This paper analyzes the current situation, trend, causes and existing problems of China’s overseas agricultural investment, and puts forward countermeasures. The study found that the overall scale of China’s foreign agricultural investment continues to grow, and the investment area is mainly concentrated in Southeast Asia and Europe, mainly in the field of planting. Regional economic integration, industrial complementarity and other factors have promoted agricultural cooperation between China and ASEAN and other countries. However geopolitical frictions also pose challenges to advance cooperation. Therefore, China needs to diversify the sources of agricultural imports, promote the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural industry, and actively explore new agricultural investment markets and industrial chain integration models, such as complementary cooperation with agricultural energy in the Middle East.