https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/chinas-economic-world-war/
The nation’s admission 20 years ago into the WTO was a grave mistake. Congress can begin to rectify this error by immediately terminating Beijing’s special trade status.
T wenty years ago today, China joined the World Trade Organization with the promise of greater peace and prosperity for all mankind. As he championed this historic mistake, then–president Bill Clinton patronizingly said, “It is ironic, I think, that so many Americans are concerned about the impact on the world of a strong China in the 21st century.” We are now witnessing how right those Americans were.
Over the past two decades, the government of China has weaponized its nearly $17 trillion economy to wage an unrelenting economic world war that has brought pain to virtually every continent and ruin to countless communities across the globe.
Since 2001, China’s economy has grown nearly 1,200 percent, transforming from a third-rate backwater into the second-largest economy, largest exporter, and dominant industrial power in the world. The PRC today makes one-quarter of the world’s automobiles, a third of all merchant ships, 40 percent of mobile phones, 70 percent of televisions, and 96 percent of shipping containers.
More worrisome, China has gained a stranglehold over the production of many essential materials and is acquiring a dominant position in key technology areas. China manufactures more than half of the world’s steel, produces two-thirds of the active ingredients in our generic drugs, and processes 85 percent of rare-earth elements. China is also making strides in the fields of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, possesses 200 of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, and produces 70 percent of the world’s drones.