Western complaints about Chinese "overcapacity" stem from egoistic interests: SCMP

HONG KONG, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The recent U.S. and EU complaints of what they claim China's "industrial overcapacity" stem from their fear of losing dominance and ignorance of how Chinese manufacturing has helped the globe, according to an opinion piece in the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English-language daily, on Friday.

The United States and the European Union have spun the current situation with a narrow definition of overcapacity, wrote Zhou Xiaoming, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing.

Washington and Brussels define overcapacity as "a productive capacity that exceeds domestic demand," but for a country, exports normally happen when there is a surplus of goods after meeting domestic demand, namely the result of "overcapacity," Zhou wrote.

And this is largely how the West became rich. The West has for centuries "relentlessly pursued market access for their surplus goods," he noted.

However, the West is using so-called "overcapacity" as a pretext to attack China, especially in advanced sectors where they are leading players and in fear of being surpassed.

Such action undermines the World Trade Organization's (WTO) authority and credibility. "If Washington and Brussels practised what they preach about maintaining the rule-based international order, they would address their grievances against China through the WTO," instead of "setting up court and appointing oneself as the judge," he said.

In fact, China's manufacturing capacity has helped the West transition to a greener economy and benefited the developing world by providing affordable products and enabling economic development, he wrote.

"Are Washington or Brussels capable of seeing the global benefits of China's 'overcapacity'? Probably not, as long as their egoistic interests continue to blind them," said Zhou.