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US-China relations
ChinaPolitics

China-US rivalry is main challenge to Asian giant’s development, NDRC says

  • But time is on China’s side, the National Development and Reform Commission says in report
  • ‘China will have to seek development in an ever more unstable and uncertain world,’ it says

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The US is the biggest external threat to China’s development, the NDRC says. Photo: Shutterstock
Matt Ho
China’s rivalry with the United States will be the “biggest external uncertainty” that restrains its medium- and long-term development but “time is on China’s side”, the country’s top economic planning agency said in its assessment ahead of this week’s key meeting in Beijing to chart the future course of the world’s second-largest economy.
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“China will have to seek development in an ever more unstable and uncertain world,” it said.

The assessment, completed in August and written by department chiefs and research heads, is part of the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) official planning compendium released late last month.

The compendium provides the detailed thinking of how Beijing sees China’s increasing confrontation with the US and its impact on the Chinese economy, as well as the country’s rejuvenation.

Party elites will close their annual plenary meeting in Beijing on Thursday and are expected to approve the outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the country’s long-term development goals, through 2035. Both documents are expected to be released soon.

The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to affect the global economy for “a considerable time”, exacerbating the already rising protectionism and shortening of global production chains, potentially weakening China’s status as the world’s factory, the NDRC assessment said.
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