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{{Short description|Director-General of a United Nations agency}}{{family name hatnote|Qu ()|lang=Chinese}}

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| honorific-suffix = | image = Qu Dongyu - 2023 (cropped).jpg| caption = Dongyu in 2023| order = | office = Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)| term_start = 1 August 2019| term_end = | deputy = | Preceded by = | predecessor = José Graziano da Silva| successor = 196329}}Yongzhou, Hunan, ChinaHTTPS://WWW.CHINAVITAE.COM/BIOGRAPHY/QU_DONGYU ACCESS-DATE=2020-08-12 ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20200507142331/HTTP://WWW.CHINAVITAE.COM/BIOGRAPHY/QU_DONGYU, live, | birthname = Hunan Agricultural UniversityChinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Wageningen University and Research>University of Wageningen| occupation = | profession = Biologist| cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | religion = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes = | blank1 = Known for Implementing the Fome Zero program| data1 = | blank2 = | data2 = | blank3 = | data3 = | blank4 = | data4 = | blank5 = | data5 = | nickname = | allegiance = | branch = | serviceyears = | rank = | unit = | commands = | battles = | awards = | military_blank1 = | military_data1 = | military_blank2 = | military_data2 = | military_blank3 = | military_data3 = | military_blank4 = | military_data4 = | military_blank5 = | military_data5 = | party = Chinese Communist Party}}Qu Dongyu ({{zh|c=屈冬玉|p=Qū Dōngyù}}; born October 29, 1963) is a Chinese diplomat who took up office as the ninth Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on 1 August 2019. He is the first Chinese national to head the Organization. Qu won the nomination on the first round of voting at the 41st FAO Conference on 23 June 2019, obtaining 108 of the 191 votes cast by the 194 member countries.NEWS,weblink Outfoxed and Outgunned: How China Routed the U.S. in a U.N. Agency, Lynch, Colum, Gramer, Robbie, October 23, 2019, Foreign Policy, en-US, live,weblink October 25, 2019, 2019-10-26, He is married, with one daughter.NEWS, 2019-06-23, Qu Dongyu becomes first Chinese to head UN food agency FAO, France 24,weblink live, 18 August 2019,weblink 18 August 2019, NEWS, 2019-08-05, FAO, il cinese Qu Dongyu assume l'incarico di Direttore Generale: "Saremo più dinamici, trasparenti e inclusivi", La Repubblica,weblink 18 August 2019, 2020-08-06,weblink live,

Early life and education

Qu was born in Yongzhou, Hunan, China in October 1963. He trained to become a biologist, gaining a bachelor's degree from Hunan Agricultural University, a Master's in plant breeding and genetics from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and a Doctorate in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from the University of Wageningen, Netherlands in 1986. He joined the Chinese Communist Party the same year.WEB, July 2015, 屈冬玉 简历 - 人民网 地方领导资料库,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20201115090300weblink">weblink 15 November 2020, 2023-07-02, People's Daily, zh,

Career

From 2001 to 2011 he was Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Between 2011 and 2015 he served as vice-chair of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China and in 2015 he became Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, where he was involved in promoting international collaboration with organizations such as FAO and Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International.WEB, Newly appointed FAO Director General, Dr Qu Dongyu, plays important role in building China-CABI partnership,weblink live,weblink 18 August 2019, 18 August 2019, Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International,

Food and Agriculture Organization

Qu was supported by China in the 2018 election for Director-General of the FAO. The United States Department of State was concerned about Qu's potential victory, and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kevin Moley moved to support Georgian politician David Kirvalidze, though many other American officials, including those at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Embassy in Rome preferred Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, the French agricultural engineer backed by the European Union.Qu won the election in June 2019 with 108 votes over Geslain-Lanéelle's 71 and Kirvalidze's 12.NEWS, Elmer, Keegan, 24 June 2019, UN food agency FAO may face more US scrutiny with Chinese national Qu Dongyu at the helm, en, South China Morning Post,weblink live, 9 May 2020,weblink 20 December 2019, Allegations of bribery and coercion by China to secure the votes of other FAO delegates featured prominently in the election.NEWS,weblink China's Qu Dongyu beats EU candidate for FAO leadership, Fortuna, Gerardo, 2019-06-24, EURACTIV, en-GB, live,weblink 2019-11-08, 2019-11-23, After Qu's election, Chinese nationals were appointed to central departments and approvals for pesticides containing ingredients banned in the EU were granted for use in Asia and Africa.WEB, January 24, 2024, China. Power. Food.,weblink 2024-03-24, Deutsche Welle, en, Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, diplomats have criticized Qu for failing to address the 2022–2023 food crises. According to a former UN official interviewed by Politico Europe, "Nobody actually takes him seriously: It's not him; it's China," and "I'm not convinced he would make a single decision without first checking it with the capital."NEWS, Wax, Eddy, 23 December 2022, Chairman FAO: Western powers pressure China's UN food boss to grip global hunger crisis, Politico Europe,weblink 23 December 2022, 23 December 2022,weblink live, According to The Economist, "Many governments privately accuse the Chinese head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (sic), Qu Dongyu, of downplaying the impact on food security of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a huge grain producer. They presume the aim was to spare China's ally, Mr Putin, from criticism."NEWS, 10 October 2022, China seeks a world order that defers to states and their rulers, The Economist,weblink live, subscription, 2022-10-11,weblink 2022-10-11, 0013-0613, In 2023, a joint study by German public broadcasters found that Qu "instrumentalized" the FAO "to serve Beijing's interests."WEB, 30 June 2023, Exerting Influence: How China Is Instrumentalizing the FAO,weblink 2023-07-02, Tagesschau (German TV programme), Tagesschau, en, 2023-06-30,weblink live, Under Qu's tenure, the FAO has supported Belt and Road Initiative projects and inked its first agreement with a pesticide company, Syngenta, which is a subsidiary of state-owned ChemChina.

References

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External links

• Biography at FAO.org
• Biography at ChinaVitae

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