Regarding China's agricultural methods, I'm no farmer but if they are anything like every other industry I saw during my seven years in China (especially their healthcare system), they'd be best described as "a thin veneer of advanced technology covering a hopelessly outdated fundamental process."
Regarding China's predicament and the likelihood of them 'playing nice' with the international community, well...
...recall the strange case of the USSR. In the early '30's were faced with famine. They chose to export what little food they had in order to create an image that all was well, starve peripheral regions (Ukraine in their case, likely Tibet and Xinjiang in China's case) to extinction in order to feed the core regions, and blame the West for the famine. They were thus able to maintain their hostile posture with a now more fanatically devoted population, and simultaneously exterminate what they considered "dangerous" fringe elements (see earlier comparison between Ukraine and Tibet). I expect China will do the same.