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‘China shock 2.0’ is a false narrative born of Western anxiety: Chinese media

The state-run Economic Daily says the real problem with the global economy is not China’s strong exports, but rising protectionism

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Large numbers of cars and containers are stacked at a port waiting for export in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Photo: AFP
Sylvia Ma

A leading Chinese state media outlet has run back-to-back front-page editorials over the past two days pushing back against claims that China’s economy is losing steam and that the global economy is experiencing a “China shock 2.0”.

“Looking across the globe, China’s growth target stands out as second to none,” the state-run Economic Daily wrote in a Thursday editorial, noting that the country’s goal of achieving 4.5 to 5 per cent growth in 2026 was far higher than the 2.6 per cent global growth rate forecast by the World Bank in January.
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It added that the target reflected China’s “strategic composure and policy acumen in pursuing steady, long-term development”, noting it had silenced claims that the economy was “losing speed”.

The comments came after Beijing set its lowest annual growth target since 1991 for this year, with policymakers focused on transforming the Chinese economy to put it on a more sustainable footing and reduce its vulnerability to external pressures.
With China just starting to implement its latest five-year plan, an overly ambitious growth target could lead to resources being misallocated and undermine the leadership’s long-term goals, the article said.

At the same time, an excessively low growth rate would fail to support industrial upgrading and technological innovation, it added, calling the 4.5 to 5 per cent target a “reasonable range”.

Meanwhile, China’s economic data for the first two months of the year showed “a marked acceleration in industrial production” and “a strong start to economic operations”, according to the editorial.

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“At a time when many economies worldwide are grappling with sticky inflation, slowing growth or the after-effects of deindustrialisation, China’s steady and improving performance stands out,” it noted.

China’s economy beat market expectations in a number of areas in January and February, with exports surging 21.8 per cent year on year and industrial output rising 6.3 per cent. Factory activity also returned to expansionary territory in March, according to China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, despite the US-Israel war on Iran.
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