Chinese Government speaks out for animal welfare

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture for the People’s Republic of China, Yu Kangzhen, delivered a speech in which he stated: “Promoting animal welfare has become not only an important choice for the green development of agriculture and a significant measure to ensure food safety and healthy consumption, but even more so an important embodiment of human caring in modern society.”

He added: “The Chinese traditional culture has always advocated the concept of raising and using animals with an attitude of love and appreciation and as one of the world’s major developing countries China would align with the objective requirements for economic and social development and vigorously promote work on animal welfare.”

This was the first time that the Chinese government has publicly declared its attitude towards animal welfare – talking openly about the work Compassion has been doing with ICCAW - indicating that China is ready for change and has clear objectives.

A great effort has already been made for animal welfare improvement in China and significant progress has been achieved.

Read the full speech here.

Green agriculture commitment from China

Today, China is committed to the development of green agriculture and at the heart of this is the improvement of both animal welfare and health, and the quality and safety of livestock products.

In the future, China aims to:

accelerate the development of animal welfare technical standards and regulations;
gradually perfect the systems of animal welfare inspection, assessment and supervision;
actively explore the approaches for animal welfare legislation;
take farm animal welfare as an approach to promoting the green and sustainable development of the farming industry;
continually enhance international communication and collaboration

Good Pig Production Awards

Compassion’s Good Pig Production Awards were presented on the first evening of the conference and all the winners were able to talk about their work with Compassion.

Chinese Government talks at World Conference on Farm Animal Welfare in China