Continuous false narratives fool nobody as facts speak for themselves

I have been a journalist for only 11 years, but have already witnessed at least three rounds of China crisis narratives stirred up by foreign media. Each time, without exception, China has shattered the predictions with strong economic development, resilience and opportunity.

Recently, Foreign Affairs published an article by Michael Froman, former US trade representative, claiming that China's manufacturing capacity continues to expand and that its export growth will eventually exceed what the global market can absorb, triggering a global economic crisis spreading outward from China. This argument is essentially another smear on China's trade and economy, and a rhetorical disguise for the United States to pressure China and contain its industrial development.

Froman's argument is based on the idea that China's manufacturing production capacity and export share are growing too fast. This continues the Western fallacy of "China overcapacity" that has been hyped for years.

In fact, international trade is inherently a process of continuous market-share redistribution. Indicators of different calibers cannot be crudely compared. Global market demand is not static. New demand breeds new technologies, and new products continuously replace old ones. For example, China's growing exports of new energy vehicles, photovoltaic products and lithium batteries correspond to the rigid demand created by the global energy transition, green low-carbon development and global industrial upgrading. One cannot define normal market competition as "overcapacity" simply because a country has ample production capacity and outstanding export competitiveness.

International academia has long refuted this one-sided and double-standard logic. Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, asked rhetorically: If producing more than domestic demand is called "overcapacity", should Boeing also reduce aircraft production? Should American farmers only grow as many soybeans as Americans can eat? By that logic, global trade would cease to exist. Froman's argument essentially uses static current demand to measure dynamic future production capacity, ignoring basic economic variables such as technological progress, demand expansion and the continuous emergence of new industries.

Facts speak louder than words. China's export growth brings the world not crisis, but development opportunities. China's new energy products, with advantages such as complete industrial chains, large-scale production and technological iteration, have lowered the cost of the global green transition and industrial upgrading, and many developing economies have benefited.

At the same time, on the demand side, China's goods imports reached 18.48 trillion yuan ($2.75 trillion) in 2025, maintaining its position as the world's second-largest import market for 17 consecutive years. Driven by huge domestic market demand and industrial upgrading, China is accelerating its transformation into a "world market" where global enterprises share opportunities.

China's positive value to the global economy goes far beyond trade dividends. In international cooperation, China works closely with developing countries to create local jobs, improve infrastructure and industrial supporting facilities. Take Cambodia's Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone as an example. The zone, jointly developed by Chinese private company Hongdou Group and Cambodian partners, is a landmark project under the Belt and Road Initiative. Since its establishment, it has attracted more than 200 enterprises and provided 35,000 jobs.

At the same time, its mega-scale market, complete industrial ecosystem and vibrant innovation atmosphere have made China an important node in global innovation networks. More and more foreign-funded enterprises say that China has grown into a "super training ground" for global technological innovation and a "hardcore gym" for competitiveness.

A series of facts fully prove that "China will induce a global crisis" is a false proposition serving selfish interests. As Zheng Yongnian, dean of the School of Public Policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said: "Don't be too concerned with what the West says. They can fool people once or twice, but if they keep fooling others, the world won't believe them anymore."