所有在圣路易斯的同仁，大家早上好。 我希望我能亲自和大家在一起，尤其是在棒球赛季开始的时候。 我相信在密苏里现场的有不少红雀队的球迷。 我祝红雀队一切顺利，并希望他们能在 10 月的世界系列赛中遇到我的红袜队。
 
很高兴和你们在一起。我要感谢我的老朋友、美国外交协会同事肯·奎恩大使的介绍和美中腹地协会理事会的邀请。
 
我要感谢在场的美国大豆、玉米和畜牧业的行业领袖，感谢他们行业的支持以及与中国农业同行的持续关系和带头作用。
 
当然，我要感谢中国驻美使馆临时代办徐学渊女士，感谢中国对农业议题的持续关注和参与。
 
我要感谢其他人今早的领导作用，感谢前密苏里州州长鲍勃霍尔登的领导。
 
最后，祝贺特里·布兰斯塔德大使出任新的角色世界粮食奖基金会主席。特里是一位杰出的美国驻华大使。特里和克里斯，你们在北京很受欢迎。我和我的妻子Libby非常感谢他们。当我们刚开始这里的工作时，他们给予我们非常大的帮助。
 
今早我要谈一个重要话题，关于美中双边关系，这对美国至关重要，它将在影响我们 21 世纪这个时代的历史进程中发挥重要作用。
 
中国和美国是世界上最大的两个经济体，我们的双边接触不仅影响到我们两国，也影响到整个世界。
 
我们的关系很复杂—在许多问题上，这是一种艰难的、竞争性的关系，正如你们所有人都会理解和非常了解的那样。
 
美国还一直表示，当双方利益一致时，我们准备好与中国合作。他们在气候变化、农业、粮食安全、全球健康和毒品方面进行合作—尤其是阻止芬太尼前体流入我国。
 
美国与中国的农业合作依然强劲，是我们与中国和中国人民整体关系中的重要积极成分。
 
关于今年非常重要的全球粮食安全话题，我们非常自豪美国大力支持黑海粮食倡议。我向中国当局提出了这个问题，包括上个月同农业部长唐仁健。美国对 3 月初倡议的延期表示欢迎。
 
俄罗斯对乌克兰的恶毒战争对包括中国在内的全球粮食安全产生了重大的负面影响，并可能逆转全球最近在抗击饥饿和消除贫困方面取得的进展。
 
在与中国同行的会谈中，我要求他们支持联合国的努力，鼓励俄罗斯恢复每天检查更多的船只。
 
美国为成为这一努力的全球领导者而自豪。我们很自豪成为粮食安全的全球领导者。
 
仅在过去 14 个月内，美国就向世界其它地区提供了 133 亿美元的人道主义和粮食安全援助。
 
美国正在提供创纪录的紧急援助，同时加倍在农业发展方面的投入以避免下一次全球粮食危机。这包括土壤健康计划及确保作物品种适应不断变化的全球气候。
 
甚至在当前危机之前，美国就通过美国国际开发署“未来粮食计划”，美国农业部“食品促发展”计划和“麦戈文–都乐食品教育”计划，每年投入近 20 亿美元来加强全球粮食安全。
 
拜登总统向国会提交的 2024 财年预算申请中包括了额外的 12 亿美元用于支持粮食安全和农业计划。
 
我们继续要求包括中国在内的世界其他国家与我们一道增加支持联合国应对全球粮食安全挑战的努力。这是当今世界面临的最大挑战之一。
 
关于另一个话题，也是你们讨论的热点话题，即农产品贸易。美国 2022 年向中国的出口达到了创纪录的 409 亿美元。
 
事实上，中国在过去三年中每年都是美国农产品的最大市场，每年占美国农产品出口总额的近 20%。
 
农业贸易为美国农村带来就业和收入。农业贸易正在对我们的农村社区、整个中心地带、我们所有的农场和牧场州以及像我的家乡马萨诸塞州这样的渔业州产生真正和积极的影响。
 
在我最近与农业部长唐仁健的会谈中，我们进行了非常积极和富有成效的讨论。我们都对加强两国之间持续不断的农业合作感兴趣。
 
40 多年来，美国农民和农业贸易协会与中国同行合作，推动中国农业转型。
 
美国大豆出口协会、美国谷物协会和其他组织的开创性工作为中国乳制品、牲畜、家禽、水产养殖和饲料行业的现代化做出了巨大贡献，扩大了两国农民的机会。
 
保持建设性的农业关系对我们两国整体双边关系非常重要。
 
我们希望看到美国农产品对中国的出口持续强劲。同样重要的是，中国政府要履行它对我们的政府以及我们的农民和牧场主做出的承诺。
 
我们正在监督并要求这里的政府充分履行其先前对我们的承诺，包括农业生物技术——对于实现全球粮食安全和全球气候智能型农业目标至关重要的技术，这些目标是我们的全球农业战略核心。
 
例如，我们希望看到更加透明和及时的审批程序，尤其是农业生物技术。
 
美国和国际种子公司需要能够在中国投资——目前，该行业在中国所谓的“负面清单”上，这阻止了我们公司的投资和在中国开展业务。
 
我们也继续重申，中国应履行其关于承认美国各州没有高致病性禽流感、对莱克多巴胺进行风险评估以及承认美国非洲猪瘟保护区的承诺。
 
这些都是我们在未来几个月与中国合作时需要解决的重要问题。然而，我们与中国的农业关系整体健康良好，我预计它在 2023 年将保持强劲。
 
最后请允许我说，美国政府及其农业利益相关者为我们过去所做的投资感到自豪，并将支持与中国政府和中国人民继续投资于农业合作。我们希望确保我们两国的农业可持续性、粮食安全和农村繁荣。
 
我们也为美国农民、牧场主和渔业社区的力量感到自豪。
 
最后，请让我感谢美中腹地协会让我有机会在今天早上与您交谈。我真希望我能亲自到场。我们美国驻华使团，包括我们的新任农业事务公使衔参赞罗勃特，希望成为您可靠的合作伙伴，在我们两国之间建立更牢固的食品和农业联系。
 
再次感谢今早有机会在圣路易斯与您会面。
 
如今中国的新冠清零政策已经结束，我们又可以旅行了，我们非常希望能在中国见到你们中的许多人。请告诉我们你们什么时候来，我们期待着欢迎您来到美国驻北京大使馆。谢谢，祝各位与会愉快。

Good morning to everyone in St. Louis.  I wish I could be with you in person, especially because it is the start of the Baseball season.  And I am sure there are more than a few Cardinals fans in attendance in Missouri.  I wish the Cardinals well and hope they may meet my Red Sox in the World Series in October.
 
It’s a real pleasure to be with you, I want to thank my long-time friend and colleague from the American Foreign Service Association Ambassador Ken Quinn for his introduction and I want to thank the U.S. Heartland China Association board for the invitation.
 
I’d like to recognize U.S. agricultural industry leaders in attendance from the soybean, corn, and livestock sectors for their industry’s support and sustained relationship and leadership with Chinese agricultural industry counterparts.
 
And of course, I want to recognize PRC Chargé d’affaires Xu Xueyuan for China’s continued interest and engagement on agricultural topics.
 
And I would like to thank other people for their leadership this morning, former Missouri Governor Bob Holden for his leadership on this issue.
 
And finally, congratulations to Ambassador Terry Branstad in his new role as President of the World Food Prize Foundation.  Terry was a great Ambassador of the United States here in China. Terry and Chris, are very well remembered here and my wife Libby and I are grateful to them, they were so helpful to us as we got started here as well.
 
I want to talk this morning about an important subject, it’s about the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, it’s the most consequential for America and it’s going to play a significant part in affecting the course history, of our time here in the 21st century.
 
We are, China and the United States two largest economies in the world, our bilateral engagement affects not just the two of us, but the entire world.
 
Our relationship is complex and often complicated – it is a difficult, competitive relationship on many issues as all of you will understand and know very well.
 
The United States has also said consistently said that we are ready to work with the PRC when our interests coincide. And they do on climate change, agriculture, food security, global health and narcotics – particularly in stopping the flow of Fentanyl precursors into our country.
 
America’s agricultural engagement with the PRC remains strong and is a major positive part of our overall relationship with China and with the Chinese people.
 
On the topic of global food security, which is so important this year, we’re very proud the United States strongly supports the Black Sea Grain Initiative.  I raised this issue with the Chinese authorities here, with the Minister of Agriculture Tang Renjian last month.  And the United States welcomes its extension earlier in March.
 
The vicious Russian war against Ukraine has had a major and negative impact on global food security, including here in the PRC and has the potential to reverse recent global progress made to fight hunger and to fight poverty.
 
In my meetings with Chinese counterparts, I have asked them to support the United Nations effort and for them to push Russia, to encourage Russia to resume inspecting more vessels each day.
 
The United States is proud to be a global leader on this effort. And we’re proud to be a global leader in food security.
 
In the last 14 months alone, the United States has dedicated $13.5 billion in U.S. humanitarian and food security assistance to the rest of the world.
 
The United States is contributing record levels of emergency assistance while doubling down on agricultural development investment to stave off the next global food crisis. This includes programs for soil health and ensuring that crop varieties are adapted to an everchanging global climate.
 
Even before the current crisis, the United States has been investing nearly $2 billion annually toward strengthening global food security through the USAID’s Feed the Future Program and USDA’s Food for Progress and the McGovern – Dole Food for Education programs.
 
President Biden’s fiscal year2024 budget request to congress includes an additional $1.2 billion in support of food security and agricultural programs.
 
We continue to ask others around the world, including China, to join us in increasing support for UN efforts to address the global food security challenge. It’s one of the most important challenges facing the world today.
 
On another subject, and the subject at the heat of your discussions is agricultural trade, the United States exported a record $40.9 billion to the PRC in 2022.
 
Indeed, the China was the top market for U.S. agriculture for each of the last three years, equating to almost 20 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports on an annual basis.
 
Agricultural trade brings jobs and income to rural America.  Agricultural trade is making a real and positive difference to our rural communities, across the heartland and in all our farm and ranch states, and in fisheries states like my home state of Massachusetts.
 
In my recent meeting with Minister of Agriculture Tang Renjian we had a very positive and very productive discussion.  We both share an interest in increased and ongoing agricultural engagement between our two countries.
 
For more than 40 years, American farmers and American agricultural trade associations have worked with their Chinese counterparts to transform China’s agricultural sector.
 
Pioneering work by the U.S. Soybean Export Council, the U.S. Grains Council, and other organizations have greatly contributed to the modernization of China’s dairy, livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and feed industries, expanding opportunities for U.S. and Chinese farmers in both countries.
 
Maintaining a constructive agricultural relationship is very important for the overall bilateral relationship between our two countries.
 
We want to see continued strong exports of American agricultural products to China. It is also important that the government here in Beijing follows through on commitments that it has made to our government and to our farmers and ranchers in the United States.
 
We’re monitoring and we’re asking for the government here to honor fully its previous commitments to us, including those on agricultural biotechnology – technology that is critical to achieving global food security and global climate smart agriculture goals which are at the heart of our ag strategy worldwide.
 
We hope to see, for example, a more transparent and timely approval process for agricultural biotechnology in particular.
 
U.S. and international seed companies need to be able to invest in China – currently, this sector is on China’s so called ‘negative list’ which prevents our companies from doing so and from doing business in China.
 
We also continue to reiterate that the PRC honor its commitments on recognition of U.S. states as free from highly pathogenic avian influenza, developing a risk assessment for Ractopamine, and the recognition of the United States’ African Swine Fever Protection Zone.
 
These are all important issues to work out in the months ahead as we work together with China.  The overall health of our agricultural relationship with China is strong, however, and I expect it to remain strong in 2023.
 
Let me conclude by saying that the United States Government and its agricultural stakeholders are proud of the past investment we have made and will support continued investment in agricultural cooperation with the government in Beijing and the Chinese people. We want to ensure agricultural sustainability, food security, and rural prosperity in both of our countries.
 
We’re also proud of the strength of our American farmers, ranchers, and fishing communities.
 
In closing, let me thank you all of you with the U.S. Heartland China Association for the opportunity to speak with you this morning, again I wish I could have been there in person.  We in U.S. Mission to China, including our new Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, Robert Hanson, we want to be your reliable partner in building even stronger food and agricultural ties between our countries.
 
Thank you again for the opportunity to be with you this morning in St. Louis.
 
And now that zero-COVID has ended and we can travel again, we hope very much we’ll see many of you out here in China please let us know when you’re coming, we look forward to welcoming you to the U.S. embassy in Beijing. Thank you and have a great conference.