China Says Prepared to Lead Global Economy if Necessary
January 23 2017 - 9:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Josh Chin
BEIJING -- China is prepared to take the helm of the global
economy if Western nations abdicate their leadership role, a top
Chinese diplomat said Monday, days after new U.S. President Donald
Trump pledged in his inaugural speech to put "America first" during
his presidency.
"If it's necessary for China to play the role of leader, then
China must take on this responsibility," Zhang Jun, head of the
Chinese foreign ministry's office of international economic
affairs, told a small group of foreign reporters in Beijing.
Mr. Zhang made the comments following Chinese President Xi
Jinping's trip last week to the World Economic Forum in
Switzerland, where he delivered a defense of economic globalization
in a speech that likened trade protectionism to "locking oneself in
a dark room."
Many who listened to Mr. Xi's Davos speech saw it as a rebuke to
Western politicians like Mr. Trump, who have pushed for a more
inward focus. A stream of commentary in Chinese state media has
since sought to portray Mr. Xi as an internationalist and China as
the new standard-bearer for free trade.
China's Foreign Ministry has been cautious on the subject. But
with Mr. Trump painting an especially glum picture of the effects
of globalization in his inaugural speech on Friday, Mr. Zhang
entertained the idea of China adopting a new global role.
"If people want to say China has taken a position of leadership,
it's not because China suddenly thrust itself forward as a leader.
It's because the original front runners suddenly fell back and
pushed China to the front," he said.
Mr. Trump on Friday said t he U.S. needed to protect its borders
"from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing
our companies and destroying our jobs."
The new U.S. president has threatened to slap steep tariffs on
Chinese goods to protect American workers, and has said he might
label China a currency manipulator for keeping the value of the
yuan low to boost exports. Several economists have questioned
whether tariffs are likely to bring jobs back to the U.S. and
pointed out that China has recently been trying to prop up its
currency, not weaken it.
Mr. Zhang said launching a trade war wouldn't be putting
America's interests first. "The goals Trump has set will be very
difficult to achieve in a closed environment," he said.
Mr. Zhang said China would continue to push for a free-trade
agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, a competitor to the U.S.-led
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Mr. Trump has said he would
pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation TPP. The agreement requires U.S.
ratification to come into force.
He also pointed to China's $3-trillion "One Belt, One Road"
development initiative that aims to rebuild the old Silk Road trade
routes between East and West as evidence of the country's
dedication to economic interconnectedness.
Foreign governments and companies have accused Beijing of
adopting mercantilist policies that unfairly favor Chinese
companies and products through subsidies and restrictions on
foreign access to lucrative markets.
In an annual survey of members of the American Chamber of
Commerce in China, released last week, four out of five said they
felt less welcome in China than before, nearly double the rate from
three years ago.
Mr. Zhang pushed back at such criticism on Monday, saying China
was trying to improve market order and believed its subsidies were
legal under the rules of the World Trade Organization. He also
pointed to a new plan by China's cabinet, the State Council, to
expand the areas open to foreign investment.
Write to Josh Chin at josh.chin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2017 08:56 ET (13:56 GMT)
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