nozomi2015
Honorary Poster
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- Apr 22, 2015
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In Washington, there's a lot of talk about how the coronavirus crisis could increase the push for more economic decoupling with China. But the Chinese government is thinking about it in exactly the opposite way. Beijing is preparing to use the crisis to advance China's economic strategy against the US.
The US had better start taking notice.
For three years, the Trump administration has been trying to pressure China to stop its economic aggression and unfair trade practices, using tariffs, negotiations and measures to protect US industries. Beijing has hated this strategy from the start and only reluctantly struck a "Phase One" trade deal that addresses few of these issues.
"They have a post-virus strategy, and it is already underway," said Nate Picarsic, co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a consultancy that tracks Chinese government and economic activity.
Horizon issued a new report Sunday, drawn from official Chinese government and media sources, that spells out how Beijing is planning to use the downturn in Western economies to its benefit. China intends to seek out more foreign direct investment, seize market share in critical industries and try to stop the West from confronting its bad behavior.
"Beijing intends to reverse recent US efforts to counteract China's subversive international presence; at the same time to chip away at US-Europe relations," the report states.
After the 2008 financial crisis, Beijing filled the economic void by building up its national champion companies using huge government subsidies and gross intellectual property theft. Twelve years later, and now home to some of the world's largest and most capable firms, China is planning to overproduce various goods to flood the market and increase its market share while Western companies are on their backs. China is also setting itself up to be a haven for foreign capital if its markets bounce back before ours.
"China has a long-standing strategic plan that's focused on co-opting nodes and systems in which it thinks it can claim coercive power over the United States and the global system," said Emily de La Bruyere, the other co-founder of Horizon. "Now that the world is shutting down, China sees its opportunity to move in much more quickly and aggressively to those nodes and systems."
Some of China's actions seem benign or even helpful. China is ramping up production of medical supplies and ingredients for pharmaceuticals. One commentary in China's state media threatened that if China withheld drug ingredients, it could plunge the United States into "the mighty sea of coronavirus".
The US had better start taking notice.
For three years, the Trump administration has been trying to pressure China to stop its economic aggression and unfair trade practices, using tariffs, negotiations and measures to protect US industries. Beijing has hated this strategy from the start and only reluctantly struck a "Phase One" trade deal that addresses few of these issues.
"They have a post-virus strategy, and it is already underway," said Nate Picarsic, co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a consultancy that tracks Chinese government and economic activity.
Horizon issued a new report Sunday, drawn from official Chinese government and media sources, that spells out how Beijing is planning to use the downturn in Western economies to its benefit. China intends to seek out more foreign direct investment, seize market share in critical industries and try to stop the West from confronting its bad behavior.
"Beijing intends to reverse recent US efforts to counteract China's subversive international presence; at the same time to chip away at US-Europe relations," the report states.
After the 2008 financial crisis, Beijing filled the economic void by building up its national champion companies using huge government subsidies and gross intellectual property theft. Twelve years later, and now home to some of the world's largest and most capable firms, China is planning to overproduce various goods to flood the market and increase its market share while Western companies are on their backs. China is also setting itself up to be a haven for foreign capital if its markets bounce back before ours.
"China has a long-standing strategic plan that's focused on co-opting nodes and systems in which it thinks it can claim coercive power over the United States and the global system," said Emily de La Bruyere, the other co-founder of Horizon. "Now that the world is shutting down, China sees its opportunity to move in much more quickly and aggressively to those nodes and systems."
Some of China's actions seem benign or even helpful. China is ramping up production of medical supplies and ingredients for pharmaceuticals. One commentary in China's state media threatened that if China withheld drug ingredients, it could plunge the United States into "the mighty sea of coronavirus".