Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 24 (Reporter Ma Zhuoyan, Sun Nan) Zhao Lijian, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on the 24th that the death of Yuan Longping, a famous Chinese scientist, winner of the "Medal of the Republic" and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is a huge loss for China and the world, and he will always be remembered and remembered by people.

In recent days, the official microblog of the United Nations, the Director General of FAO, the President of the World Food Prize Foundation and others have sent messages in memory of Academician Yuan Longping. Overseas media and netizens have also expressed their remembrance in various ways, thanking him for his outstanding contributions to promoting food security, eradicating poverty and benefiting the people.

Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on the same day that after the death of Academician Yuan Longping, people from all walks of life at home and abroad expressed their deep condolences, which fully demonstrated that his contributions to China and the world's hybrid rice industry were widely recognized and highly valued.

Zhao Lijian said that China uses less than 9% of the world's arable land, feeds nearly one fifth of the world's population, and firmly holds the job in its own hands. This is inseparable from the hard work of Academician Yuan Longping.

"While increasing our own grain production and income, we have always maintained an open and responsible attitude and generously shared hybrid rice technology with countries around the world." Zhao Lijian said that the export of China's hybrid rice technology was almost synchronized with the opening up. In 1979, China provided hybrid rice seeds for the first time. Forty years later, Chinese hybrid rice has been planted in dozens of countries and regions in Asia, Africa and the Americas, with an annual planting area of 8 million hectares. In the past 40 years, Academician Yuan Longping and his researchers also went to India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the United States and other countries to provide advice and advice to rice researchers, and trained more than 14000 hybrid rice professionals for more than 80 developing countries through international training courses.

"The above efforts have made great contributions to solving the problem of world hunger and poverty. The golden and heavy rice has enabled countless people to enjoy the happiness of food and clothing and see the hope of life." Zhao Lijian said.

Zhao Lijian said that Academician Yuan Longping not only belongs to China, but also to the world. His lifelong dream is to make hybrid rice cover the world, so that everyone will not starve. China has created a miracle of food self-sufficiency, and has the will and ability to continue to make greater contributions to global food security governance. "We believe that with the joint efforts of all parties, Academician Yuan Longping's dream will come true, and hunger and poverty will disappear from the earth."

People's Daily (May 25, 2021, 4th Edition)

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