US the real perpetrator of economic coercion

This photo taken on Jan 19, 2023 shows the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is an editorial from China Daily.

Non-market practices and economic coercion are the terms Washington often employs when it is pointing an accusing finger at other countries including China. It is absurd that it should do so, given that such expressions best describe what it has been doing.

Despite this, it still plans to use such phrases in meeting with the European Union later this month, in which the two sides will talk about ways to contain the rise of China.

Given the frequent visits to China by leaders of major EU countries in the past months and the close economic cooperation between China and EU countries, it is clear that Washington is trying to estrange the EU from China.

When it comes to the topic of non-market practices, it is well-known all over the world that China's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s turned the country into a market economy with its own characteristics. That transformation has brought China to where it is now. It is that transformation which has also ensured the Chinese economy's integration with the global market.

China has never changed its reform and opening-up policies and it has been making efforts to open its door wider and create an even better business environment for foreign investors.

It is the US that has abused market rules in its dealings with other countries by taking for granted its position as the world's sole superpower. It is the US that has bullied other countries by taking unilateral actions in raising tariffs or imposing economic sanctions. It is the US that is desperate to suppress China's development in order to maintain its position as the world's sole superpower.

When it comes to the alleged economic coercion of China, the example that is cited is Lithuania whose exports to China the Chinese authorities are said to have blocked. However, it is Lithuania that is responsible for its problems with China, as it has failed to abide by the one-China principle that is the prerequisite for bilateral relations.

Washington has frequently practiced economic coercion in its economic relations with other countries. By politicizing economic issues, the US has frequently imposed economic sanctions against other countries. Washington has also abused the concept of national security to prohibit the development of other countries.

Its attempt to coordinate with the EU on export controls for semiconductors and other goods at their meeting to be held later this month is an apt example. It is a kind of bullying that is meant to keep China and other emerging economies at the lower end of the global industry chain.

What Washington has been doing has disrupted and will further disrupt the global supply and industry chains. It is selfish and callous of Washington to do a disservice to the development of the world economy in a bid to contain the rise of China and the development of emerging economies.