Global Times - 21.08.2019

6 Wednesday August 21, 2019

FOCUS

The family of murdered Chi-

nese scholar Zhang Yingying

announced on Monday the

establishment of “Yingying’s

Fund” to help international

students at University of Il-

linois at Urbana-Champaign

(UIUC) who are in crisis.

“Founded with the support

of her family, this fund will

uniquely serve international

students across campus and

their families during times of

hardship, when they need it

most,” the homepage of the

fund said.

According to Zhang’s

father, Zhang Ronggao, this

is the most appropriate way

to remember his daughter’s

life, Beijing News reported on

Tuesday. “As her family, we are

so proud to establish ‘Yingy-

ing’s Fund’ at the University of

Illinois to remember her whole

life,” he said, adding that the

sadness will be with the family

forever, and hoped no family

would suffer a similar tragedy,

the report said.

“Champaign is 7,000 miles

away from our home; we didn’t

know who and where to ask for

help,” the father said, accord-

ing to The Daily Illini. “When

we arrived, there were so many

people from the university and

local community who helped

us.”

Zhang Yingying’s fiancé

Hou Xiaolin released a state-

ment in which he expressed

hope that international stu-

dents and their families would

be able to receive the needed

financial support when faced

with emergencies in future,

instead of feeling helpless as

Yingying’s family did when

first arriving in the US, The

Daily Illini said.

The family made the deci-

sion to give an endowment

of $30,000 to the fund, said

the Associated Press. As of

Tuesday, more than $58,

has been raised by more than

494 people.

According to the homepage

of “Yingying’s Fund,” the fund

may also be used to support

family travel expenses of UIUC

students in crisis, including

airfare, lodging and meals, for

the student’s immediate fam-

ily member(s) to support the

student.

Two years ago, Brendt

Christensen murdered Zhang

Yingying, dismembered her

body and put the remains into

three garbage bags. Chris-

tensen was convicted and sen-

tenced to life in prison in July.

Global Times

Family of slain Chinese scholar set up fund for int’l students in crisis

Page Editor:

zhangdan@

globaltimes.com.cn

“A

lot less stressful!” said Jamie

Beyer, a soybean grower

in the Midwest US state of

Minnesota, referring to life before the

US-initiated trade tensions against

China, a feeling widely shared by other

US farmers.

“But now you know, every day we’re

checking the market to see what the

prices are doing,” Beyer, who is also

president of the Minnesota Soybean

Growers Association (MSGA), told the

Xinhua News Agency.

Praying for solution

Soybean prices have been hit hard

since last year, as collateral damage of

the US administration’s tariffs against

China, which makes it more difficult

for farmers to stay in business as their

paychecks are mainly dependent on

the market, according to the industry

leader, who joined the MSGA in 2015.

For many US farmers, starting

an agricultural operation requires a

huge investment, including purchas-

ing equipment, which can cost tens

of thousands of dollars. More impor-

tantly, it is often a long-term decision

for families.

However, since 2018, the US

administration has imposed several

rounds of additional tariffs on Chinese

imports.

In retaliation, China levied tariffs

on a list of items imported from the

US, including some agricultural prod-

ucts like soybeans.

As the world’s largest consumer of

soybeans, China was the destination

for about 60 percent of US soybean

exports before the trade dispute.

In 2018, that number dropped to

17.9 percent.

To weather the damage, the chief of

the soybean association and her coun-

terparts across the nation have made

unprecedented efforts to diversify their

export markets over the past year.

Beyer said that resolving the trade

dispute with China tops her wish list

this year, as US farmers want to “have

a satisfied customer,” which “hap-

pened to be China for many years.”

Speaking of Washington’s aid

program to offset the ongoing tariff

damage to producers, Beyer said “the

aid is acknowledgement that specifi-

cally our industry has been targeted

and hurt through the negotiation,” but

“we would rather have trade.”

Kevin Paap, president of the Min-

nesota Farm Bureau and fourth-gen-

eration owner of his family farm that

primarily produces soybeans and corn,

said the US and China should negoti-

ate to figure things out.

“If we can work together to come

up (with) some agreement that ben-

efits both sides of that agreement, it’s

very important to agriculture,” said

Paap, adding that US farmers want

trade rather than aid.

The American Soybean Association,

which represents more than 300,

soybean farmers, issued a statement in

May, opposing using unilateral tariffs

to address the US trade imbalance

with China and other countries.

Bleak business outlook

The US administration’s trade rifts

with China have hurt farmers in vari-

ous agricultural sectors.

US pork farmers are increasingly

worried that their longtime efforts to

secure a foothold in China are evapo-

rating.

The protracted trade tensions may

dampen the outlook for their access

to China, the world’s biggest pork

market, and consequently cripple the

entire industry.

“Without a doubt, we would love to

have access to the Chinese market...

There’s a tremendous demand in

China, and we can certainly fill some

of that demand,” David Preisler, chief

executive officer of the Minnesota Pork

Producers Association, told Xinhua.

More than 25 percent of the coun-

try’s total pork production is exported,

with China being a major buyer,

according to data from the US Meat

Export Federation.

According to US authorities, Ameri-

can hog farmers are estimated to be

losing out on $1 billion annually amid

the trade tensions with China.

David Herring, president of the Na-

tional Pork Producers Council, told a

US House Agriculture subcommittee

in a hearing last month that retaliatory

tariffs imposed by China and other

countries are “one of the most damag-

ing threats” to his industry.

Hope for collaboration

US beef producers, who are looking

forward to gaining a larger share in

China, also long for a settlement of the

trade rifts between the world’s top two

economies, which potentially cloud the

outlook for business collaboration.

China is a relatively new market for

US beef, but with a lot of potential to

tap, Ashley Kohls, executive director of

the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Asso-

ciation, an organization that currently

represents more than 1,000 members

from all segments of the beef commu-

nity, told Xinhua.

US beef producers have been

excited to enter the Chinese market

after years of absence as a result of the

detection of the mad cow disease in

the US, she said, adding that her as-

sociation has sent a working group to

Asia every year since 2017 to promote

sales.

US anti-tariff advocacy group Tariffs

Hurt the Heartland warned that as the

country’s trade disputes with its trad-

ing partners persist, repercussions will

be felt by farmers, factory workers and

everyday consumers nationwide.

Xinhua

FALLOUT FOR

THE FARMERS

 US growers long for settlement

as trade dispute with China lingers

A man unloads soybeans at a Ruff

Bros. Grain elevator on June 13, 2018

in Illinois, the US. Photo: VCG