Global Times: 'China Shock 2.0' is a misleading narrative; 'China Opportunity 2.0' represents consensus

BEIJING, July 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For some time, certain Western politicians and media outlets have repeatedly hyped up the narrative of a "China Shock 2.0." They distort China's industrial upgrading and foreign trade growth in sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), new energy vehicles (NEVs), photovoltaic (PV), and high-end equipment - framing them as "dumping due to overcapacity," "squeezing out industries in other countries," or "reshaping global supply chains to threaten other nations."

Distinguishing fact from fiction here is simple: one need only look at what is currently unfolding in China. In the first half of this year alone, the China Development Forum, the Summer Davos, and the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) were held successively, drawing political and business leaders from around the world to seek cooperation, while the country's foreign trade performance was also impressive.

The facts speak for themselves: the "China Shock 2.0" narrative - wrapped in political rhetoric - is completely untenable. The true answer lies in "China Opportunity 2.0," a model rooted in mutual benefit and collaborative innovation.

With import growth outpacing export growth, China's ultra-large domestic market shatters the lie of "one-way export shocks."

The most common, one-sided logic used in hyping up the "China shock" narrative is to selectively cite China's export growth data while ignoring the country's import expansion, deliberately creating a false image of "only selling and not buying, unilaterally squeezing overseas markets."

However, China's semiannual foreign trade report for the first half of the year clearly shows that its goods imports reached 10.74 trillion yuan ($1.59 trillion), exceeding 10 trillion yuan for the first time in the same period in history, representing a 22.1 percent increase. The country's import growth exceeded export growth by 8.7 percentage points, and its contribution to foreign trade growth was greater than that of exports, powerfully demonstrating that China is a huge importer of global goods, not merely a product exporter.

The claim that "China shocks other countries with its exports" completely ignores the market dividends of its massive domestic demand. The unified national market of 1.4 billion people represents a scarce blue ocean of growth globally. As the world's largest manufacturing nation and the world's second-largest consumer market, China has a vast market with enormous potential. The country has been the world's second-largest import market for 17 consecutive years, increasing its share of global imports from 7.9 percent to around 10 percent.

Amid rising unilateralism and protectionism, China has been steadily expanding its voluntary and unilateral opening-up, implementing zero-tariff policies for 63 countries and hosting international exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo, the China International Consumer Products Expo, and the CISCE, providing a window for global products to enter the Chinese market. In the first half of the year, China's imports from more than 150 countries and regions saw growth.

A complete industrial system benefits the world, and China's export growth is a result of matching global rigid demand.

One of the core fallacies of the "China Shock 2.0" argument is the claim that China's technological and industrial innovations are seizing global market share and squeezing the survival space of other countries' industries. This argument violates the objective laws of global industrial division of labor and confuses the concepts of "healthy market competition" and "malicious impact."

China's technological and industrial innovation is the result of hard work and dedication, essentially providing high-quality supply to the world. The booming development of green industries such as PV, energy storage, and NEVs is not based on low prices, but on long-term, high-investment R&D to achieve technological iteration and efficiency improvement, significantly lowering the threshold for global green transformation. This is a development dividend that benefits all mankind; where does the talk of "shock" come from?

Currently, the ongoing global green transformation process has spawned a massive incremental market, with overseas demand for PV, energy storage, and NEVs continuing to grow. Driven by this market demand growth, China's export growth is a result of matching global rigid demand, with demand preceding new supply. The narrative of "overcapacity - low-price exports impacting Western manufacturing" is completely untenable.

Foreign investment continues to increase, with global capital pouring money into the Chinese market to achieve supply chain cooperation.

The continued investment and strategic expansion of global multinational corporations in China is the most compelling market evidence refuting the "shock" narrative. Currently, international direct investment is facing pressure amid uncertainty. Stable, safe, and long-term value investment destinations have become the common choice and expectation of the global business community.

The underlying logic of foreign companies' deep roots in China is a key aspect of "China Opportunity 2.0": China, with its ultra-large domestic market, complete industrial support system, continuously improving business environment, and ever-enhancing innovation capabilities, provides predictable, reliable, and value-added development space for companies from all countries. As of 2025, China's actual utilized foreign investment has remained above $100 billion for 16 consecutive years.

Many multinational corporations continue to increase investment, establishing new R&D centers, regional headquarters, and green industrial parks in China. Their development logic has long since shifted from relying on low-cost factor production to leveraging China's innovation ecosystem for simultaneous R&D and global sharing of results. In 2025, foreign direct investment (FDI) in China's scientific research and technical services sector accounted for nearly one-fifth of the total FDI in the country, marking a steady increase for seven consecutive years and reaching 3.8 times that of 2018. In 2025, 14,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in this sector, representing a year-on-year increase of 27.2 percent.

Currently, the global economic recovery is under pressure, and uncertainties in supply chains continue to rise. All countries should abandon biased confrontational thinking and recognize the enormous benefits brought by China's expanded imports, its empowerment of global development, and its open and shared market.

China will continue to steadily promote high-level opening-up, continuously enrich the cooperative connotation of "China Opportunity 2.0," inject certainty into the global economy with its own stable development, and work hand in hand with countries around the world to forge a path of mutual benefit, win-win cooperation, and common prosperity.

SOURCE Global Times