Trade war is about more than just trade, China’s official news agency argues
By: David Cohen (POLITICO)
China will return to prominence in the news cycle soon so now is a good time to review the geopolitical landscape. What is being presented is China's one-sided diplomatic/political narrative. Make no mistake China's narrative is contrived to protect its own vested interests. (Who is the target audience of Xinhua's appeal for global equity? China is no longer an underdog.)
The claim of Chinese openness is belied by the reality of slowing economic growth, a weakening Chinese economy, increased government debt to meet economic growth projections, and a dramatic expansion of the Chinese military. The Chinese government has been required to stimulate its own economy during a time of global economic recovery from the pandemic. The unspoken truth is revealed by Xinhua's contradictions that the US tariff policy is only hurting the United States while also harming the global trading system.
Xinhua has acknowledged that the United States is the lynchpin for the global trading system. Without access to consumers in the United States, the global trading system faces collapse. And more countries are now competing for access to US consumers. China is trying to use the tariffs as an excuse to obscure the reality of what is happening inside China.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
China’s official state news agency argued that the ongoing trade war between the United States and China is about much more than tariffs.
“At its heart, this is not just a trade dispute — it is an encounter between two fundamentally different visions in this age of economic globalization: one rooted in openness, cooperation and shared growth; the other driven by confrontation, exclusion, and zero-sum mentality,” Xinhua wrote in commentary published early Sunday.
Writing in support of globalism, Xinhua added: “China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity.”
In Sunday’s commentary, Xinhua argued that the United States is hurting itself with its trade positions.
“For the United States itself,” Xinhua wrote, “its tariff offensive amounts to economic self-harm: while it cannot cure underlying structural problems, it has triggered financial market volatility, fueled domestic inflation, eroded industrial capacity and raised the risk of recession.”
In contrast, Xinhua contended, China is taking a different path.
“At a time when globalization is under strain and protectionism is on the rise, China has chosen not to lock itself up. Instead, it has doubled down on opening up, advancing trade and investment liberalization with renewed determination and creating opportunities for shared development across the globe,” Xinhua said. “China’s position is clear: no matter how the global landscape shifts, it will remain committed to openness.”
President Donald Trump on Saturday hailed “a total reset” of relations with China after talks in Switzerland involving Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, adding, “Great progress made.” The negotiations followed a deal that the Trump administration reached last week with the United Kingdom.
To settle this trade battle, the Chinese publication said the Trump administration must rethink how it views tariffs and trade.
“If Washington is truly committed to resolving trade frictions through dialogue, it must first confront the harm its tariff-driven policies have inflicted not only on the global trading system, but also on its own economy and citizens,” Xinhua said.
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Has China's chance to dominate the global economy come and gone? China's economy was weakening before the tariffs. Competition from other countries has increased. Has China's closer ties with Russia been a choice or an economic necessity?
That's news to me, but then after all, how could I possibly know better than David Cohen?
I suggest reviewing the first sentence of David Cohen's report. Cohen is reporting on editorial commentary published by Xinhua News Agency which is state owned.
What Xinhua publishes is the diplomatic/political narrative endorsed by the Chinese government. Cohen didn't make up any of this reporting. In fact, Cohen's reporting includes a link to Xinhua ==>
It is not surprising that the Xinhua's report is positive with respect to what China's position is and what it is doing to counter what the USA has done, but what you and Cohen have posted is quite negative about China and of course that is no surprise to me. That is what my comment was addressing. And it has always been my opinion that China was PUSHED towards Russia by America, or is there a denial that America has been doing whatever it can to contain China?
Xinhua is publishing an official position of the Chinese government. The diplomatic/political narrative published by Xinhua has been crafted to serve China's interests. While that should not be surprising, the fact remains that the narrative makes contradictory, one-side accusations that rely on fluffy rhetoric without specifics. Xinhua is making happy noises while avoiding any specificity for purpose and goals for Chinese trade policy.
Trump has provided specific purposes and objectives for imposing the tariffs. Xinhua (and the Chinese government) are trying to keep their options open by not directly address Trump's stated goals and objectives.
Then explain why trade with the United States is so important for China? The United States is only the third largest trade partner to China. The ASEAN bloc in Southeast Asia is China's largest trade partner. The European Union is second.
Sino-Russia relations have been cordial since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But neither China or Russia have been dependent upon each other. That's the change in relationship we seem to be witnessing. That growing interdependence most likely arises from weaknesses inside China and Russia rather than from external influences.
I do not see my comments or Cohen's reporting as being negative about China. I admit my comments lack Pollyanna affirmations but are factual representations of reality.
The facts really do show that China's economic growth has markedly slowed the last few years, that China has increased its national debt at a much faster rate to stimulate China's economy, and the stimulative spending is how the Chinese economy has met growth projects for the last few years. There have been alarm bells quietly ringing in financial circles about China's growing debt problem.
China's ASEAN competitors are encroaching on China's reliable export markets. The cost of manufacturing in China has been increasing because of the growing affluence provided by that trade. China is not the underdog, developing economy any longer. That simple fact means China will be exposed to more competition from the current underdog, developing economies.
Seeing quite a lot of and knowing China as an expat Canadian who has lived here for almost 19 years now I really can't understand how it can call itself a "developing" country. With the modernity of the cities, the vast super-fast rail network, the advanced technology and robotics, placing a exploring unit on Mars, etc. it's IMO more developed than most nations that are called "developed" countries".
As I said, I see the relationship between China and Russia as having been pushed to develop, but I don't see China depending on Russia. I would not have the knowledge to know if Russia NEEDS China.
By the way, my first comment above was meant to be sarcastic as a way of pointing out that maybe someone who has lived in China as long as I have MIGHT be a little more accurate in knowing China than that of someone who miight never have stepped a foot in China and only knows it from what he reads.
What I DIDN'T know is what has now been pointed out to me, that China is heading for disaster. I really did think it was capable of maintaining itself and dealing with impending difficulties it is described by others as facing. But then, as I said above, how would I know?
I don't know that China is heading for disaster. But China's position in the global economy has changed significantly. China has become more affluent with has increased the cost of manufacturing in China. And China is experiencing more competition in export markets from other countries that offer lower costs. China is now emerging into the status of a fully developed economy which brings with it new trade priorities, such as protecting China's intellectual property. China's growing industrial economy has also increased China's vulnerability to supply chain disruptions.
China is at the stage where it's economy can be hollowed out just as the economy of the United States has been hollowed out. China's reaction to Trump's tariffs suggest an awareness that the status quo global trade structure no longer provides the same benefit for China.
Okay, well, at least things are not going to be so bad. China is building a world following with its Belt and Road Initiative, and what at least on the surface that I can see making a lot of friends around the world, in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the ASEAN nations and patching things up with Japan and South Korea. Inroads have been made with the Arab nations, and the Balkans, and things are looking up with the Euro - especially with Spain and Hungary if not others. The prize for all those nations is China's huge market and growing middle class that can afford things and are buying them. By the way, I really enjoyed the plump delicious Peruvian blueberries in my oatmeal breakfast half an hour ago.
Are you sure you don't want me to fix that Kodak article you posted? I thought it was valuable information, and if I used an iPhone or smartphone I would have wanted to buy the thing myself.
Which only highlights that China is gradually becoming the United States. Chinese and American consumers have begun competing for the same goods. The competition between Chinese and American consumers will only increase as China's affluence increase.
Nope. I've done a deep search and found a couple other DIY articles that I can use instead. There's not a lot of info available. Since smartphones are so widely used now, I thought the info might be of interest.
If you're talking about middle class consumption then yes, China is becoming like the United states, but if you're talking about culture and tradition there is NO WAY in that respect.
China's already losing population. The chickens are coming home to roost from one of the most intrusively totalitarian programs of all time, the one child policy. An aging population with a youth cohort that is overwhelmingly male to gender based infanticide, has resorted to human trafficking and the slave trade to bring in females to be "brides." Still hasn't helped the birth rate problem, so they are starting down the road of south korea.
"Bride slaves" is a new one added to your usual "Joe McCarthy / Roy Cohn" comments about China. Can you post an unbiased source for that?
There are so, so many.
Bride trafficking – the escalating phenomenon of forced marriage and sexual slavery in China
Teenage Brides Trafficked to China Reveal Ordeal: ‘Ma, I’ve Been Sold’
I note that this is posted on the source:
Was there not an article posted on NT recently about a woman being kept in a cage in America? Guess you will find such an incident everywhere.
As I've said many times every nation has its warts. It's obvious the problem arose from the unfortunate "One-child Policy" but that policy NO LONGER EXISTS. The right thing for a nation to do is to do something to stop the consequence, and China has been doing it. This is from the source you posted:
China has begun to take steps to deter traffickers: in 2018 the country stated it had rescued over 1,000 victims from Southeast Asia and arrested over 1,300 suspects, of whom 262 were foreigners (Barr, 2019). Much of this success was drawn from collaboration with foreign authorities, hinting at the desperate need for transnational collaboration.The necessary next steps can be broken down by actors:
That's kind of a stretch for The Pixie Project , an organization devoted to animal welfare, to be credible about, isn't it?
The New York Times is blocked here, which indicates to me that what it posts is most likely usually NEGATIVE about China.
So yes, a problem may have been caused by the One-child Policy, but as you well know, that problem is just another probleml from China's history, and the consequences from it have been and are being dealt with.
LIKE SO......