Trade war reflects US fear of China’s state-led economic model, says member of Beijing’s political elite
- Kong Dan, the former chairman of the state-owned Citic Group and Everbright Bank, urges Beijing to stick to its development path over adopting a western model
- Speech at Moganshan Research Institute comes at a time when US and Chinese negotiators are said to be near an agreement to end their 10-month trade war
The trade war launched by the United States reflects a fear of China’s state-led economic model, according to a member of Beijing’s political elite, reflecting confidence among the ruling class over the country’s political economy system that must be maintained and cherished.
Kong Dan, the former chairman of the state-owned Citic Group and Everbright Bank, believes China’s principal advantage is its “government plus market” that has been proved successful over the last four decades.
And instead of weakening the state-led system, China has to cherish its model and make good use of its “institutional advantages” in the next five to 10 years to deal with technology and resource supply challenges amplified by an increasingly hostile US, Kong said.
“The root cause of China-US trade friction is their fear of our path and our system,” said honorary chairman Kong during a speech earlier this month at the spring session of the Moganshan Research Institute think tank that was only released this week.
Kong, whose father was a senior intelligence officer during China’s communist revolution, retired in 2010 and holds no official public positions, but is seen as an influential Chinese “princeling”, or offspring of one of the original Communist founders of the People’s Republic of China, with ties to its powerful families and institutions.
The speech by Kong, who also chairs the Citic Foundation for Reform and Development Studies, comes as US and Chinese negotiators are said to be near an agreement to end their 10-month trade war. The US imposed tariffs on Chinese imports from July in an attempt to force Beijing to open up its market and drop its state-sponsored development strategy.