According to an Epoch Times report, Sun Liping, a professor of sociology at Tsinghua University, recently published an article on his “Sun Liping Social Watch” WeChat public account saying that, “China cannot afford to fight (a trade war with the United States).” The article was blocked soon after it was published. Sun Liping is also known as Xi Jinping’s doctoral mentor at Tsinghua.

Sun Liping talked about three points in his article: 1. The trade war is a product of changes in the U.S. strategic thinking. Some unwise words and actions in China have played a triggering role. 2. China cannot afford to fight and cannot fight. 3. China will make major concessions.

As for why “China cannot afford a trade war,” Sun said, “We often say that a trade war is a lose-lose game. Both China and the United States cannot afford to lose, but the reality is that it’s even more so for China. One must be sober about this.”

The article said, “The details about the advantages and disadvantages are insignificant. The following are key factors: In terms of resources, the rich natural resources in the United States can make it possible for it to develop for a considerable period of time under the conditions of retreat from the country; whereas we rely heavily on the external market for resources. Most cutting-edge technologies are held in the hands of the United States and we rely heavily on U.S. technology. Most of our foreign exchange comes from the U.S. Without these foreign currencies, we cannot import the necessary grain, oil, and chips. The United States has many allies. Leaving China aside, although the U.S. economy will be hit hard, it still has a vast market, whereas we do not have any such privilege.”

The article also stated that, “If the trade war goes to the extreme, it will at most hit the U.S. economy very badly, but it is a survival issue for us.” “The only disadvantage of the United States is the pressure that will result from the domestic anti-trade war.”

Source: Epoch Times, March 26, 2018
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/3/26/n10251152.htm

Xinhua published a commentary immediately after U.S. President Trump signed the order to impose tariffs based on the result of the Section 301 Investigation. The commentary said this “typical” unilateralism and trade protectionism position only put the United States on the opposite side of the whole world. The U.S. move will seriously undermine the global multilateral trading system and disrupt the normal international trade order. This protectionism is going completely against the world’s trend of globalization. Xinhua also suggested that all these things the Trump administration did will not even serve the best interests of the United States itself. The immediate free fall of the U.S. stock market after the bad news was obvious proof that the U.S. policies could only cause panic among global investors. In the long run, the American image of uncertainty will damage the national reputation of the United States as well as the core U.S. competitiveness. The commentary ended with the call for the United States to pull back before it’s too late.

Source: Xinhua, March 23, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2018-03/23/c_129836554.htm