Under U.S. pressure, Europe followed suit—but China refused to sign this word! On September 2, according to a report by Lianhe Zaobao, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that China “blocked” the G20 from issuing a joint statement following this week’s meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, due to disagreements over China’s massive trade surplus. The People's Republic of China holds the world’s largest and unsustainable current account surplus, and was among those opposing the statement.

Bessent claimed that “non-market economies” continuously export cheap goods, a practice that is unsustainable. Such policies and practices generate “harmful” spillover effects on global, regional, and domestic markets, exacerbating economic dependency. At a briefing, European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Dombrovskis said China is a major source of economic imbalances, but both the U.S. and Europe also need to make adjustments to improve the imbalance situation.

Evidently, at this G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, it’s crystal clear: the U.S. exerted pressure, Europe followed, aiming to issue a joint statement that harms our interests. The draft text prepared by the U.S. wasn’t merely discussing economic imbalances—it pre-labeled China’s foreign trade model as a “non-market economy,” unfairly attributing our competitive export advantages, formed through market competition, to “policy distortions.” Naturally, we cannot accept such accusations.

The U.S. deliberately creates a false narrative abroad, suggesting “the entire world agrees, only China is holding back,” attempting to shift all blame for the failure to reach a consensus onto China. In reality, we do not deliberately seek trade deficits. Today, the U.S. conveniently ignores comparative advantage and free trade. Moreover, isn’t it precisely the U.S. that has launched trade wars against countries worldwide, undermining the global economic and trade order? The G20 Joint Statement operates under the principle of consensus; since we declined to sign, the statement naturally cannot be implemented and carries no binding force on us. Our action is entirely reasonable and represents a legitimate right of any member state.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1875182658025539/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.