The Chinese Qu has been re-elected as director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. However, he is controversial: Loud ARD-Research is said to have restructured the organization in the interest of China.
Qu Dongyu has been elected director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the second time. The Chinese received 168 out of 182 votes in the election in Rome. However, there were no opposing candidates.
research of ARD Qu said he used his first four-year term as FAO director to transform the organization on China’s behalf.
Geopolitical interest in the FAO
Before Qu took over as head of FAO in 2019, he had worked as China’s deputy agriculture minister. The 59-year-old was nominated by Beijing for the post at the UN organization. At the time, his election was seen as a sign that China was interested in nutritional issues and wanted to fill international bodies with high-ranking Chinese representatives.
The public service broadcasters BR, MDR, rbb and SWR had published research in late June suggesting that China was using the FAO for its own geopolitical purposes.
Has China bought electoral votes?
According to the research, there are indications, among other things, that the Chinese leadership had made offers to other countries to vote in Qu’s first election. According to the information, the person elected then filled departments with directors who had previously worked in the Chinese state apparatus for a long time. Among other things, this has enabled shipments of controversial pesticides to Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Qu is a biologist specializing in plants and genetics and a PhD from Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands. In 2019 he succeeded the Brazilian José Graziano da Silva, who himself had served two terms. FAO Directors-General can be elected for a maximum of two consecutive terms.