
Taming News of a Border Tragedy
The catastrophe that struck the China-Nepal border last month is a case study in information control — and the clearest sign yet that Xi Jinping has rewritten the script for domestic media.

China’s Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC) is a specialized agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs that claims to serve as a window for foreign agricultural cooperation and manages China’s international agricultural development programs. Facilitating and managing agricultural international exchanges, south-south cooperation, and agricultural aid projects, FECC coordinates with international organizations including the FAO, World Bank, and International Fund for Agricultural Development. Since 2002, FECC has managed the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Programme, deploying over 252 Chinese agricultural experts and technicians to 11 countries, primarily in Africa and Asia. The center promotes the international transfer of China’s agricultural development experience and “Chinese solutions” (中国方案) to developing countries along the Belt and Road, positioning itself as a key instrument of China’s agricultural diplomacy and soft power projection.
