U.S. aid chief criticizes China’s ‘absence’ in a food crisis stoked by Russia’s invasion.
Nations that have refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risk accelerating a global food crisis, the United States international aid agency’s chief said on Monday, singling out China for hoarding fertilizer and grain while millions of people in East Africa face starvation.

Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, also criticized China for contributing only $3 million to the United Nations’ World Food Program in 2022 — compared with $2.7 billion donated by the United States — despite predictions of an “explosion of child deaths” in the Horn of Africa because of food shortages. The shortages started with a devastating drought and spiraled after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Ms. Power’s comments highlighted the increasing anger of the United States and its allies over China’s tacit support for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and his war to control Ukraine.