South Sudan's Famine Is China's Chance to Lead

If South Sudan’s famine is “man-made,” and it is, then maybe man can also unmake it. Given the country’s unstable government and the U.S.’s uncertain global leadership, however, most of the effort will have to come from China.

More than 40 percent of South Sudan’s 11 million people don’t have enough to eat not because of drought or other natural causes but because of their country’s civil war, which started in 2013. Mayhem and disorder have taken tens of thousands of lives and forced more than 1.5 million to flee. Meanwhile, corruption and mismanagement have contributed to a shrinking economy (by 13 percent last year) and high inflation (near 500 percent).