A leaked document reportedly circulated to media outlets in China reveals critical information about Beijing’s perceptions of the ongoing trade war with Washington, as well as its battle plan.
“The trade conflict is really a war against China’s rise, to see who has the greater stamina. This is absolutely no time for irresolution or reticence,” the guide explained, according to China Digital Times. “All media should prepare well for protracted conflict.” China has a tendency to, not always inaccurately, see the actions by other countries running counter to its national interests as containment.
Outlining the game plan, the leaked document stated that China should “halt negotiations for now, respond tit for tat, roll out corresponding policies, hold public opinion at a good level without escalating it, limit scope, and strike accurately and carefully, splitting apart different domestic groups in U.S.” The document also noted that China has no intention of ending its controversial policies, such as the Made in China 2025 plan, suggesting instead that
There has been much speculation in recent months that Beijing will target Trump’s base in a trade war. In April, China took aim at American soybean exports, an important export coming out of Trump country in the Midwest. A Brookings Institution study from that time noted that 82 percent of the counties expected to be affected voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Chinese companies are expected to cancel most of their soybean orders in the coming days as trade tensions are predicted to rise as new tariffs go into effect, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, as well as punish China for its theft of American intellectual property with trade tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods has led Beijing to retaliate with its own reciprocal trade penalties. The Trump administration is threatening to return fire with tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese products, risking a serious escalation in an already heated trade conflict. (RELATED: Trump Threatens To Hit China With Tariffs On $200 Billion Worth Of Goods)
China is “fully prepared to take a package of necessary measures” to defend its national interests, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday as the threat of hard-hitting tariffs looms.
“Intensifying trade frictions between China and the United States is a test that the Chinese economy inevitably had to experience during its rise,” China’s Economic Daily said Tuesday, “We have long anticipated and prepared for this … The impact on the Chinese economy is within a controllable range.”
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