Economy

China Says the US Did Not Drive Its Growth

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: May 19, 2019 6:47 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 4:31 am

Many economists who analyze global GDP trends would argue strongly that the U.S. is largely responsible for China’s growth in recent decades. America has turned to China’s massive and inexpensive factory sector to make goods which are used in our everyday lives. These economists might also argue that the largest American companies like Walmart could not exist without Chinese factories and labor.  The official Chinese position, voiced recently, is that this point of view is not accurate at all.

In the People’s Daily, a medium controlled by the Chinese government, an editor wrote:

China’s rapid development carries huge significance in the modern time, and is widely recognized as a miracle by the international community.

But such achievements have led to harsh voices of some Americans who said it was their country that had rebuilt China in the past 25 years. Such voices go against common sense and are totally wrong.

The Chinese believe they have proof that the United States has been only a minor contributor to its growth, The editor writes further:

Since 1987 when China started keeping statistics on foreign investment, the country has accumulatively utilized foreign capital of more than $2 trillion. However, only $80 billion, or 4.06 percent of the total, came from the US. Has the US rebuilt China with $80 billion? That does not exist even in dreams.

China’s manufactured goods must have been consumed somewhere. Its government clearly thinks that somewhere is not the world’s largest consumer economy, by far.