China is not heading toward a market economy, often due to its own policies, report concludes
- China ‘is clearly not what was envisioned’ when it was admitted into the World Trade Organization in 2001, Atlantic Council and Rhodium Group find
- The nation has back-pedalled from its stated economic objectives, and the US and other market economies must protect themselves when dealing with it
China has fallen short of meeting its stated reform goals and is not on track to become a market economy, a report assessing China’s development has concluded.
As a result, the United States and other market economies must develop commercial rules to protect their systems better when they deal with China until it becomes a more open economy, according to the report, China Pathfinder, published by the Atlantic Council and Rhodium Group on Tuesday.
The report found that while the last decade saw some progress, China’s back-pedalling from a more open economy, which began in 2016, was particularly prominent in the past year when Beijing began to crack down on private firms in the technology and education sectors and pursued a growth strategy intended to make China less reliant on the outside world.
The report’s researchers said that, 20 years later, the US and other nations must go beyond the tools permitted by the WTO, since China “is clearly not what was envisioned in 2001”. The report stopped short, however, of proposing specific measures.
