眼下，台湾、中东和俄罗斯问题导致中美关系紧张的担忧充斥着新闻报道。实际上，这些问题一直是两国关系紧张的原因。亨利·基辛格在其著作《论中国》里提到，尼克松 1972 年访问中国后，人们在整个 70 年代都在考虑这些问题。尼克松下台、毛泽东去世、吉米·卡特当选后，两国终于在1979年建立外交关系，并签署了《科学技术合作协定》。遗憾的是，这份基础性的协定在2023 年 8 月到期，随后仅延期 6 个月。

两国建立外交关系之前的六年多时间里，由于亨利·基辛格的谈判和1972 年上海联合公报的制定，两国科学合作的种子首次落地。1976 年，已有 20 多个美国文化、教育和体育代表团访问中国，20 多个中国代表团访问美国。科学交流活动由美国国家科学院和中国学术交流委员会安排。1973年，该委员会安排一批中国农业科学家访问美国，了解农作物害虫防治的知识。随后，六个中国农业代表团访美，四个美国代表团访华。这些农业科学交流取得成功，为《科学技术合作协定》的签署奠定了基础。该协定为两国政府机构、大学、机构和其他机构之间的联系和合作制定了框架，通过该协定，两国能够共享重要信息，并提供知识产权保护。

该协定过去50年的成功，表明持续的农业合作是必需的。承认不同领域存在冲突的同时，两国的政策制定者可以后退一步，认识到两国在农业领域并不存在竞争。即使今天，两国的农业科学家仍然渴望合作，并且存在很多值得相互学习的地方，以应对气候变化和农业适应、食品安全、动植物疾病以及入侵物种对粮食生产的威胁。

美国科学家了解中国的绿色革命

1974 年 8 月，由十名植物科学家组成的第一个美国代表团来到中国，目的是交换种子和植物样本，以开发高产谷物品种。他们得到洛克菲勒基金会的赞助，是绿色革命领域的知名人士。领队是斯特林·沃特曼 (Sterling Wortman)，成员包括诺贝尔奖获得者、植物科学家诺曼·博洛格 (Norman Borlaug)。在中国的四个星期里，他们惊讶地发现，中国在人均耕地仅0.1公顷的情况下能够生产出足以养活9亿人的粮食。他们看到中国独立开展绿色革命，渴望更多地了解中国的研究成果以及交换种子和植物样本。

1975年，由10名昆虫学家组成的第二个代表团拜访新任美国驻华联络员老布什，并前往中国各地了解害虫的情况。这些科学家来自八所不同大学和美国农业部的两个研究站，他们从北京前往上海，参观了集体农场和研究站。他们的足迹遍及四省，北至吉林、南至广州、西至山西、东至江苏。领队戈登·盖尔（Gordon Guyer）回忆了他们在联络员老布什朴素的家中举行的晚宴：老布什感叹他当时的出行仅限于北京 50 英里以内。换句话说，农业科学家对中国，尤其是中国农村的了解，超过了外交官。

中国科学家探索害虫防治等

第一个中国科学家团队于1973年访问美国，主要交流内容是农作物病虫害防治。随后的访美团队的重心涵盖粮食、棉花、大豆和柑橘生产。这些访问对中国来说非常有价值。卡特就任总统后，中国联络员专门拜访新任农业部长伯格兰，要求把一批中国农业学者带到美国。1986 年的一次采访中，伯格兰部长提到听到这一请求时的惊讶之情，表示当时不确定如何接待他们。他负责国际事务的副手安排了后续访问。1978年夏天，到访的中国科学家会见伯格兰，向他表达感谢和称赞，并邀请他访华。他接受了邀请，却引发了一场内部冲突：他和国家安全顾问布热津斯基二人，谁可以访问中国？

尽管存在这种冲突，但卡特总统知道双边农业合作的重要性。 1978 年 11 月，他派伯格兰访问中国，随后在中国，两国制定了一份美中农业合作谅解备忘录。我在国家档案馆翻看一箱一箱的文件时，发现了伯格兰部长和杨立功部长制定的备忘录。该文件介绍了农业交流团的组织方式以及前两年交流的主题。中国希望更多地了解美国的研究体系以及对华技术转让，美国科学家感兴趣的是中国的农作物和生产技术。

农业为科技协定奠定基础

签署备忘录后，美国农业部和中国农业部立即开展工作。伯格兰部长很快就获得了赠地大学系统对这一交换项目的支持。1979 年，以害虫防治、种子和植物样本收集为主题的农业交流项目正式设立。根据新的谅解备忘录内容，美国农业部和八所赠地大学的农业科学家率先前往中国。35 年多后的今天，2100 多名美国农业科学家访问过中国，2100 多名的中国科学家参观过美国的农场和实验室。这种专业领域的交流帮助两国崛起成为全球超级粮食生产大国。

然而，一切还远没有结束。农业领域的新问题以及美中两国的学术能力，都是解决食品安全、粮食安全、气候韧性和环境问题所必须的。2024年1月18日，美国农业部长维尔萨克会见中国农业农村部长唐仁健，双方讨论了合作应对气候和粮食安全问题的重要性。为了避免失去《科学技术合作协定》将来带来的科学和农业外交成果，两国代表需要深吸一口气，退后一步，寻求在《农业合作谅解备忘录》基础上制定新的协议，关注共同需求，而不是冲突和竞争。

Concerns over Taiwan, the Middle East, and Moscow creating tension between the United States and China blanket the news today, but these same issues have always stoked tensions in the relationship between the two nations. These same issues were being considered through the 1970s following Nixon's 1972 China visit as described by Henry Kissinger in his book “On China.” After Nixon's resignation, Mao's death, and the election of Jimmy Carter, the two countriesfinally established a diplomatic relationship in 1979 and signed theScience and Technology Agreement. Sadly, this foundational agreement expired in August 2023 and is operating on just a 6-month extension.

More than a half dozen years before establishing diplomatic recognition, the seed of scientific collaboration was first planted behind the scenes as a result of Henry Kissinger's negotiations and the development of the Shanghai Communique in 1972. By 1976, more than 20 cultural, educational, and sports delegations had visited the PRC with about an equal number of Chinese visiting the United States. The scientific exchanges were arranged by the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Scholarly Communications with the People's Republic of China (CSCPRC). The CSCPRC arranged for a group of Chinese agricultural scientists to visit the United States in 1973 to learn more about insect control in crops. Six more Chinese agricultural groups followed, and four groups traveled to China from the United States. The success of these agricultural scientific exchanges helped open the door to the broader Science and Technology Agreement. The agreement sets the framework for government agencies, universities, organizations, institutions and others to have contact and cooperate. Through the agreement we have been able to share important information and provide for intellectual property protection.

Fifty years of success demonstrates the need for continued agricultural collaboration. While acknowledging old and new areas of conflict, national policymakers could take a step back to recognize that, in agriculture, the United States and China do not compete. Even today, U.S. and Chinese agricultural scientists are eager to collaborate and have much to share to tackle climate impacts and adaptation in agriculture, food safety, plant and animal diseases, and the threats to food production from invasive species.

U.S. Scientists Learn about China's Green Revolution

Withthe goal of exchanging seeds and plant materials to develop higher yielding grain varieties, the first group of ten U.S. plant scientists traveled to China in August 1974. Sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, they were a real who's who of theGreen Revolution. The team was led bySterling Wortman and included the Nobel Prize winning plant scientistNorman Borlaug. During theirfour weeks in China, they were amazed at how China, with only 0.1 hectares of arable land per person, produced enough food to feed 900 million people. They observed how China had independently developed its own Green Revolution and the U.S. scientists were eager to learn more about their research and exchange seeds and plant samples.

In 1975, stopping in Beijing to visit the new U.S. Liaison to China, George H.W. Bush, the second U.S. team of 10 entomologists traveled around China to learn more about insect pests. The scientists from eight different universities and two USDA research stations moved from Beijing to Shanghai visiting communal farms and research stations. They set their feet in four provinces - north to Jilin, south to Guangzhou, west to Shanxi and east to Jiangsu - seeing much of the country. Team leader Gordon Guyer described their dinner meeting at the Liaison's modest home and thatBush lamented that his travel was limited to within 50 miles of Beijing. The agricultural scientists were learning more about China – especially rural China – than the diplomats.

Chinese Scientists Explore Pest Control and More

The first team of Chinese scientists visited the United States in 1973 to focus on crop pest control, preceding follow-up visits with teams covering grain, cotton, soybean, and citrus production. These visits were extremely valuable to China. So much so that when Jimmy Carter became president, the Chinese Liaison came to visit the new Secretary of Agriculture Bergland with a request to bring a group of Chinese agricultural scholars to the United States. Recounted in a1986 interview, Secretary Bergland describes his surprise by the request and was unsure of how to host them. But his deputy of international affairs set things up. In the summer of 1978, the Chinese visitors met with Bergland with thanks, praise, and an invitation to come to China. His acceptance set off internal conflict with thenational security advisor Brzezinski over who in the administration was allowed to visit China.

Regardless of the conflict, President Carter recognized the importance of bilateral agricultural collaboration and sent Bergland to China in November 1978 where they developed a memorandum on US-ChinaAgricultural Understanding. I found the memorandum between Secretary Bergland and Minister Yang while digging through boxes of documents in the National Archives. The memorandum outlines how the agricultural exchange groups would be organized and the topics for the first two years of exchanges. The Chinese wanted to learn more about the U.S. system of research and technology transfer to the countryside. The U.S. scientists were interested in a range of crops and production techniques.

Agriculture Set the Stage for the Science and Technology Agreement

After the memorandum was signed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture hit the ground running. Right away, Secretary Bergland formally gained the support of the Land-Grant University system for the exchange program. Agricultural exchanges were set for 1979 on pest control and collecting seeds and plant material. U.S. agricultural scientists from USDA and eight land grant universities were the first to travel to China under the new understanding. Now more than 35 years later, over 2,100 U.S. agricultural scientists have traveled to China and a near equal number of Chinese have visited farms and laboratories in the United States. This exchange of expertise has helped both countries rise to global food superpowers.

However, the work is not done. New issues in agriculture, and the intellectual capacity of both the United States and China are needed to address food safety and security, climate resilience, and environmental issues in agriculture. On January 18, 2024 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack met with Tang Renjian, China's Minister of Agricultural and Rural Affairs. They discussed the importance of working together to tackle climate and food security issues. To avoid losing the future scientific and agricultural diplomacy benefits that were made possible by the Science and Technology Agreement, the two country's representatives may want to take a breath, step back, and look to build on the success of the Agricultural Understanding to launch a new Science and Technology Agreement with a focus on shared needs rather than conflict and competition.