Refusing to play on a level playing field

The article China trade surplus hits historic record by Nick Beams (WSWS) writes that,

“In response to criticism of the surplus from the major economic powers, particularly the European Union, which has complained that it is being flooded with cheap Chinese imports, the Chinese government sought to turn the tables.

“The vice minister of the General Administration of Customs of China, Wang Jun, said the export controls of China’s partners were preventing China from importing more.

“And then directing remarks at the US, without directly naming it, he continued: “It should be pointed out that some countries politicise economic and trade issues, issuing various pretexts to restrict exports of high-tech products to China; otherwise, we would import more. There is vast room for import growth.”

“But such calls for the freeing up of trade and the lifting of export controls will not bring about a lessening of restrictions. Rather, they are likely to be intensified. Foreshadowing moves by the EU, French President Emmanual Marcon has called the flood of goods coming out of China “unbearable.””

This whole sordid and tedious chain of events lays bare the lie that western nations believe in competition and fair play, to say nothing of anything like the common good.

They made up a bunch of rules for running the economy, rules that benefitted themselves and sounded good to those who weren’t immediately benefitted.

They sounded good to those who were subjugated because those poor suckers thought that, if they were to follow the rules, they would get to benefit as much as those who’d set up the system.

That was always a lie. China has exposed it by absolutely dominating the game. Now we watch as the empire and its vassals flip the table in a tantrum, take their ball and go home.

Yes, China has its own problems of unsustainable growth, of oligarchs within pushing the country in a direction that benefits them. This is always going to happen. But that doesn’t change the fact that their success in a game rigged against them has exposed the economic lies told by the empire.