Beijing must prepare for the worst-case scenario in its trade talks with Washington, while embracing a narrative of China’s economic certainty, the Communist Party’s leading theoretical journal said in an article published hours before Washington escalated tech and education curbs on China.
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“The US turned away from the negotiating table and immediately intensified its pressure on China’s semiconductor industry,” said a commentary posted on the official WeChat account of the Qiushi Journal on Wednesday night. “This shows that resolving trade issues won’t happen overnight.”
In the article, titled “Conveying a Message of Certainty in China’s Economy”, the journal warned that China could be facing an even more challenging external environment marred by sudden and unexpected events.
The piece called on Chinese policymakers to fully account for Washington’s tariff policy, including by thoroughly assessing risks and preparing countermeasures.
As weak domestic demand, employment pressure, a real estate crisis and US tariffs continue to weigh on China’s economy, the commentary said that China must strengthen efforts to shore up core and cutting-edge technologies, achieve breakthroughs in critical bottleneck technologies, and accelerate the application of scientific advances to drive new growth momentum.
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“With solid fundamentals, strong resilience, and rich experience in macroeconomic management and trade frictions, China, a supersized economy, has the confidence and capacity to tackle current economic challenges,” the commentary said while urging officials to strengthen their “bottom-line thinking”.