"To the ruler, the people are heaven; to the people, food is heaven." So goes the saying. Survival is based on an affordable and accessible food supply, but this pattern is gradually changing.

According to the 2014 Global Food Security Index Economist recently released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, China was 42 out of 109. The index measured how "secure" a country's food policies are in keeping supply, consumption and demand in mind under price shocks.

In the same index, Japan ranked 21 and India appeared at No.69. The indicators used included affordability, availability, quality, safety and access. Obesity and waste were the two new indicators this year.

Countries were placed in income-based categories to establish the accessibility and affordability of food by consumers in domestic environments. This also helped in identifying classes of society situated below the poverty line. Hunger, poverty, and lack of nutritious food still colored the narrative.

China has surpassed several countries in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals by simultaneously improving the standard of living. China was featured in the upper middle income ($4,086 to 12,615 per capita) category, lauded for halving the number of impoverished people and gaining access to clean water. These statistics show a significant improvement.

There is a deeper shift in China's strategic outlook. Food was the new asset that could be used to mitigate against political or economic risk.

China Investment Corporation Chairman Ding Xuedong believes that "the agriculture sector offers stability, a way of hedging against inflation and a device for spreading risk," as he told the Financial Times.

Many Chinese companies are helping people in countries of Africa, of Europe to create sustainable solutions for exponentially driving agricultural production.

This reflects a shift in priorities from perceiving food as a commodity to perceiving it as a strategic asset. And China is leading in this venture.

The takeover of agricultural giants like the US company of Smithfield Foods has profited Chinese interests in ensuring food security. And Chinese companies have expanded their interests in countries like Mongolia, Uganda, Ukraine and others to stimulate food production.

"The idea of self-sufficiency is almost an archaic fear" for the Chinese, Franz Fischler, former EU commissioner of agriculture, remarked.

Certainly, China experienced extreme and devastating famine during the late 1950s and early 1960s. But after the price shocks of 2006-08, countries like China, which are extremely dependent on imports to meet domestic supply, have begun to leave no stones unturned to ensure such a crisis can never occur within their borders again.

Nidhi Prasad, a postgraduate student from India who has studied geopolitics and international relations at Manipal University