Going out : China's food security from Southeast Asia

China's new five-year plan recognised the looming insecurity in its agricultural sector. On the one hand, the country faces a diminishing arable land supply; on the other, a large population with rapidly increasing diets. Although large-scale trade and investment in this sector has been developing since the mid 1990s between China and a variety of African states, it is a relatively new addition to the more established China-Southeast Asian economic relationship. This article seeks to explore the impact that China's agricultural investments are having on two Southeast Asian countries - Indonesia and the Philippines - where there has been a marked increase in activities by Chinese firms in agricultural produce. The findings from these two case studies - and a series of smaller studies of the situation in other regional states - are used as a benchmark to clarify some of the consequences of China's agricultural investment from Southeast Asia for regional food security. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.