Qu Dongyu

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 degree 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.{{Cite web |date=July 2015 |title=屈冬玉 简历 - 人民网 地方领导资料库 |url=http://ldzl.people.com.cn/dfzlk/frontpage/personPage6699.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115090300/http://ldzl.people.com.cn/dfzlk/frontpage/personPage6699.htm |archive-date=15 November 2020 |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=People's Daily |language=zh}}

From 2001 to 2011 he was vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Qu Dongyu contributed to the sequencing of the potato genome through his role (Principal Investigator) in the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium, at the Chinese Institute of Vegetables & Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.{{Cite journal |last=Xu |first=Xun |last2=Pan |first2=Shengkai |last3=Cheng |first3=Shifeng |last4=Zhang |first4=Bo |last5=Mu |first5=Desheng |last6=Ni |first6=Peixiang |last7=Zhang |first7=Gengyun |last8=Yang |first8=Shuang |last9=Li |first9=Ruiqiang |last10=Wang |first10=Jun |last11=Orjeda |first11=Gisella |last12=Guzman |first12=Frank |last13=Torres |first13=Michael |last14=Lozano |first14=Roberto |last15=Ponce |first15=Olga |date=July 2011 |title=Genome sequence and analysis of the tuber crop potato |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10158 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=475 |issue=7355 |pages=189–195 |doi=10.1038/nature10158 |issn=1476-4687 |archive-date=2022-11-04 |access-date=2025-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104001437/https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10158 |url-status=live |doi-access=free |hdl=10533/238440 |hdl-access=free }} The research took six years and found that the potato contains about 39,000 genes.{{Cite web |title=China-led Research Team Completes Potato Genome Sequence----Chinese Academy of Sciences |url=https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/archive/china_archive/cn2011/201107/t20110718_72878.shtml |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=english.cas.cn |archive-date=2025-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250104035629/https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/archive/china_archive/cn2011/201107/t20110718_72878.shtml |url-status=live }}

Qu Dongyu received the World Potato Congress Industry Award, as part of a team in 2006.{{Cite web |title=The World Potato Congress Industry Award |url=https://potatocongress.org/awards/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=World Potato Congress |language=en |archive-date=2024-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241220135555/https://potatocongress.org/awards/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite web |title=Newly appointed FAO Director General, Dr Qu Dongyu, plays important role in building China-CABI partnership |url=https://www.cabi.org/news-and-media/2019/newly-appointed-fao-director-general-dr-qu-dongyu-plays-important-role-in-building-china-cabi-partnership/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818133740/https://www.cabi.org/news-and-media/2019/newly-appointed-fao-director-general-dr-qu-dongyu-plays-important-role-in-building-china-cabi-partnership/ |archive-date=18 August 2019 |access-date=18 August 2019 |website=Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International}}

In 2013, Qu Dongyu co-authored research into genetic resistance of potatoes to late blight.{{Cite journal |last=Xu |first=Jianfei |last2=Wang |first2=Jiajia |last3=Pang |first3=Wanfu |last4=Bian |first4=Chunsong |last5=Duan |first5=Shaoguang |last6=Liu |first6=Jie |last7=Huang |first7=Sanwen |last8=Jin |first8=Liping |last9=Qu |first9=Dongyu |date=2013 |title=The potato R10 resistance specificity to late blight is conferred by both a single dominant gene and quantitative trait loci |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbr.12075 |journal=Plant Breeding |language=en |volume=132 |issue=4 |pages=407–412 |doi=10.1111/pbr.12075 |issn=1439-0523|url-access=subscription }}

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.{{cite news |last1=Elmer |first1=Keegan |date=24 June 2019 |title=UN food agency FAO may face more US scrutiny with Chinese national Qu Dongyu at the helm |language=en |work=South China Morning Post |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3015906/fao-may-come-under-more-us-scrutiny-chinese-national-qu-dongyu |url-status=live |access-date=9 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220104952/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3015906/fao-may-come-under-more-us-scrutiny-chinese-national-qu-dongyu |archive-date=20 December 2019}} Allegations of bribery and coercion by China to secure the votes of other FAO delegates featured prominently in the election.{{Cite news|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/chinas-qu-dongyu-beats-eu-candidate-for-fao-leadership/|title=China's Qu Dongyu beats EU candidate for FAO leadership|last=Fortuna|first=Gerardo|date=2019-06-24|website=EURACTIV|language=en-GB|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108090530/https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/chinas-qu-dongyu-beats-eu-candidate-for-fao-leadership/|archive-date=2019-11-08|access-date=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.{{Cite web |date=January 24, 2024 |title=China. Power. Food. |url=https://www.dw.com/en/china-power-food-beijings-grip-on-the-uns-food-and-agriculture-organization/a-67998945 |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=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."{{Cite news |last=Wax |first=Eddy |date=23 December 2022 |title=Chairman FAO: Western powers pressure China's UN food boss to grip global hunger crisis |work=Politico Europe |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/un-fao-qu-dongyu-chinese-un-food-boss-missing-in-action-amid-global-hunger-crisis/ |access-date=23 December 2022 |archive-date=23 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223034757/https://www.politico.eu/article/un-fao-qu-dongyu-chinese-un-food-boss-missing-in-action-amid-global-hunger-crisis/ |url-status=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."{{Cite news |date=10 October 2022 |title=China seeks a world order that defers to states and their rulers |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/special-report/2022/10/10/china-seeks-a-world-order-that-defers-to-states-and-their-rulers |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011014516/https://www.economist.com/special-report/2022/10/10/china-seeks-a-world-order-that-defers-to-states-and-their-rulers |archive-date=2022-10-11 |issn=0013-0613}}

In 2023, a joint study by German public broadcasters found that Qu "instrumentalized" the FAO "to serve Beijing's interests."{{Cite web |date=30 June 2023 |title=Exerting Influence: How China Is Instrumentalizing the FAO |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/china-un-fao-100.html |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=Tagesschau |language=en |archive-date=2023-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630085639/https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/china-un-fao-100.html |url-status=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.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.fao.org/director-general/biography/en/ Biography] at FAO.org
• [http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Qu_Dongyu Biography] at ChinaVitae

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Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:Food and Agriculture Organization officials

Category:Chinese officials of the United Nations

Category:People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan

Category:Politicians from Yongzhou

Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan

Category:Political office-holders in Ningxia

Category:Hunan Agricultural University alumni

Category:Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences alumni

Category:Wageningen University and Research alumni

Category:Biologists from Hunan