This week, the US-China trade dispute escalated once again after the two sides made fresh strikes against each other, while experts and economists raised concern that the increasing protectionism could cloud the global economic outlook. Amid the tense China-US trade showdown, China held live-fire military drills in the Taiwan Straits, the first since 2015, sending a stern message to Taiwan and Washington. Despite trade concerns, China posted better-than-expected GDP growth of 6.8 percent in the first quarter.
US-China trade battle escalates
This week witnessed another flare up in US-China trade conflicts after Washington targeted Chinese telecommunications company ZTE and Beijing levied tariffs on a fresh US crop. The world’s mainstream media noted that China and the US tried to inflict the maximum pain on each other by targeting the other’s most vulnerable sector.
The increasingly tense standoff raised concerns among American farmers and business communities over US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. The US Federal Reserve’s latest “beige book” found that American businesses are already freaking out about Trump’s tariffs, which cloud an otherwise solid US economic outlook, according to the Bloomberg, Fox news, Business Insider and other mainstream media. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Trump’s proposed tariffs on China may disproportionately hurt American companies that rely on Chinese imports, potentially driving up costs and raising prices.In addition, US farmers have complained about potential losses caused by Trump’s tariffs. Fortune quoted a farmer in Nebraska who said: “We are already barely making ends meet. It’s just kicking us while we are down.”
In contrast to divided voices over Trump’s tariffs in the US, the Chinese government, businesses and media showed strong determination and confidence in fighting back against the US. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a response to the ZTE ban that “if the US continues to act in an arbitrary and reckless manner … we will be ready in full battle array, fight back immediately and fight to the finish to win the defensive battle for multilateralism and free trade”.
According The Guardian, Chinese State media called for Chinese citizens to stand up for phone makers ZTE and Huawei.
It is important to note that many mainstream media see the tech race as the driving factor behind the US-China trade dispute. The Trump administration has argued that China is using its Made in China 2025 strategy to give the country’s tech companies an unfair advantage over foreign rivals. However, several mainstream media rightly pointed out that a trade war would inflict wounds on tech companies in both countries. The US strike on ZTE will deal another blow for Qualcomm, a major supplier of chips to ZTE and for which China is its biggest market. The Wall Street Journal commented that the interdependence of tech firms across the Pacific means that a tech war isn’t a zero-sum game and that Qualcomm is one of several US suppliers hurt by the ZTE ban.
PLA drills send warning against “Taiwan independence”
On April 18, the People’s Liberation Army held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Straits for the first time since 2015. According to State media, the drills sent a clear warning against separatism and reiterated the Chinese mainland’s resolve as well as ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. A China Daily editorial said the drills sent “a clear political message to both the island and the world: The Chinese mainland will never allow Taiwan to secede from the motherland”. Global media likewise viewed the PLA drills as a warning shot across Taiwan’s bow. National Interest said the live-fire war games sent a message to Taiwan “president” Tsai Ing-wen that “the Chinese military is a force to be reckoned with if she pushes her pro-independence agenda”.
The drills were also interpreted as a stern message to the US, whose relations with Taipei have been enhanced in the past few months. Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser on Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The New York Times that the drills were a warning as “the US and Taiwan are seen as heading in a direction that is getting perilously close to Chinese red lines”.
Despite Beijing’s hard-line stance, significance of the PLA drills was downplayed on the other side of the Taiwan Straits. The Wall Street Journal reported that Taiwan’s defense ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi described the drill as “small-scale” and said “attempts to intimidate the island wouldn’t work”. Reuters also reported that “Taiwan denounced the exercises, saying Beijing was using ‘cheap verbal intimidation and saber-rattling’ to threaten the island”. Such comments were directly refuted by China’s State media. As China Daily argued in its editorial, “Those who claim that the drills had been hyped up by Beijing … fail to appreciate their true portent, that if push comes to shove, China will act to prevent its territory being scraped away.”
China posts strong growth in first quarter despite trade concerns
This week saw China’s first quarter GDP growth reach 6.8 percent compared with the same period last year, powered by the expansion of the service sector, strong consumption and robust property investment.
The Economist said the good shape of China’s economy can be traced to three factors. First, China’s efforts to cut overproduction of steel and coal has restrained output and pushed up prices. Second, financial regulations aimed at heavily indebted borrowers such as property developers have given investors more confidence. Third, figures show that incomes in China are growing faster than the overall economy and, in turn, rebalancing the economy. Excessive reliance on investment is giving way to consumption, and heavy industry is yielding to services, which now account for more than half of GDP. Reuters held the opinion that China’s progress on high-tech investment is making high-tech manufacturing a pillar for the economy.
China’s first quarter GDP growth resulted in heated discussion among the international media. Quite a few media pointed out that with the trade war with the US and the battle against debt at home clouding the horizon, China’s economy will brace for bumps in the coming quarters. In spite of reports bad-mouthing China’s economy, Reuters sidelined the skeptics by claiming that resilience in the world’s second-largest economy will likely keep a synchronized global recovery on track for a while longer, even as China faces rising tensions with the US. The Economist also made an objective comment saying that as China’s economy matures, growth is bound to slow, but structural changes are also making growth more stable.
This week, the US-China trade dispute escalated once again after the two sides made fresh strikes against each other, while experts and economists raised concern that the increasing protectionism could cloud the global economic outlook. Amid the tense China-US trade showdown, China held live-fire military drills in the Taiwan Straits, the first since 2015, sending a stern message to Taiwan and Washington. Despite trade concerns, China posted better-than-expected GDP growth of 6.8 percent in the first quarter.
US-China trade battle escalates
This week witnessed another flare up in US-China trade conflicts after Washington targeted Chinese telecommunications company ZTE and Beijing levied tariffs on a fresh US crop. The world’s mainstream media noted that China and the US tried to inflict the maximum pain on each other by targeting the other’s most vulnerable sector.
The increasingly tense standoff raised concerns among American farmers and business communities over US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. The US Federal Reserve’s latest “beige book” found that American businesses are already freaking out about Trump’s tariffs, which cloud an otherwise solid US economic outlook, according to the Bloomberg, Fox news, Business Insider and other mainstream media. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Trump’s proposed tariffs on China may disproportionately hurt American companies that rely on Chinese imports, potentially driving up costs and raising prices.In addition, US farmers have complained about potential losses caused by Trump’s tariffs. Fortune quoted a farmer in Nebraska who said: “We are already barely making ends meet. It’s just kicking us while we are down.”
In contrast to divided voices over Trump’s tariffs in the US, the Chinese government, businesses and media showed strong determination and confidence in fighting back against the US. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a response to the ZTE ban that “if the US continues to act in an arbitrary and reckless manner … we will be ready in full battle array, fight back immediately and fight to the finish to win the defensive battle for multilateralism and free trade”.
According The Guardian, Chinese State media called for Chinese citizens to stand up for phone makers ZTE and Huawei.
It is important to note that many mainstream media see the tech race as the driving factor behind the US-China trade dispute. The Trump administration has argued that China is using its Made in China 2025 strategy to give the country’s tech companies an unfair advantage over foreign rivals. However, several mainstream media rightly pointed out that a trade war would inflict wounds on tech companies in both countries. The US strike on ZTE will deal another blow for Qualcomm, a major supplier of chips to ZTE and for which China is its biggest market. The Wall Street Journal commented that the interdependence of tech firms across the Pacific means that a tech war isn’t a zero-sum game and that Qualcomm is one of several US suppliers hurt by the ZTE ban.
PLA drills send warning against “Taiwan independence”
On April 18, the People’s Liberation Army held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Straits for the first time since 2015. According to State media, the drills sent a clear warning against separatism and reiterated the Chinese mainland’s resolve as well as ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. A China Daily editorial said the drills sent “a clear political message to both the island and the world: The Chinese mainland will never allow Taiwan to secede from the motherland”. Global media likewise viewed the PLA drills as a warning shot across Taiwan’s bow. National Interest said the live-fire war games sent a message to Taiwan “president” Tsai Ing-wen that “the Chinese military is a force to be reckoned with if she pushes her pro-independence agenda”.
The drills were also interpreted as a stern message to the US, whose relations with Taipei have been enhanced in the past few months. Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser on Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The New York Times that the drills were a warning as “the US and Taiwan are seen as heading in a direction that is getting perilously close to Chinese red lines”.
Despite Beijing’s hard-line stance, significance of the PLA drills was downplayed on the other side of the Taiwan Straits. The Wall Street Journal reported that Taiwan’s defense ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi described the drill as “small-scale” and said “attempts to intimidate the island wouldn’t work”. Reuters also reported that “Taiwan denounced the exercises, saying Beijing was using ‘cheap verbal intimidation and saber-rattling’ to threaten the island”. Such comments were directly refuted by China’s State media. As China Daily argued in its editorial, “Those who claim that the drills had been hyped up by Beijing … fail to appreciate their true portent, that if push comes to shove, China will act to prevent its territory being scraped away.”
China posts strong growth in first quarter despite trade concerns
This week saw China’s first quarter GDP growth reach 6.8 percent compared with the same period last year, powered by the expansion of the service sector, strong consumption and robust property investment.
The Economist said the good shape of China’s economy can be traced to three factors. First, China’s efforts to cut overproduction of steel and coal has restrained output and pushed up prices. Second, financial regulations aimed at heavily indebted borrowers such as property developers have given investors more confidence. Third, figures show that incomes in China are growing faster than the overall economy and, in turn, rebalancing the economy. Excessive reliance on investment is giving way to consumption, and heavy industry is yielding to services, which now account for more than half of GDP. Reuters held the opinion that China’s progress on high-tech investment is making high-tech manufacturing a pillar for the economy.
China’s first quarter GDP growth resulted in heated discussion among the international media. Quite a few media pointed out that with the trade war with the US and the battle against debt at home clouding the horizon, China’s economy will brace for bumps in the coming quarters. In spite of reports bad-mouthing China’s economy, Reuters sidelined the skeptics by claiming that resilience in the world’s second-largest economy will likely keep a synchronized global recovery on track for a while longer, even as China faces rising tensions with the US. The Economist also made an objective comment saying that as China’s economy matures, growth is bound to slow, but structural changes are also making growth more stable.
