China won’t apologise for overcapacity

“SO-CALLED” is a favourite epithet in the rhetorical armoury of Chinese officials facing unwelcome foreign criticism. The officials dismiss talk of China’s “so-called human-rights problems”, lob insults at America’s “so-called freedom of speech” and brush aside “so-called experts”.

Over the past week, they meted out the same treatment to “so-called overcapacity” in the Chinese economy. In a lengthy new paper, the Commerce Ministry seeks to rebut the accusations of industrial excess levelled against China by many foreign governments and economists.

The paper is fascinating because it is both rigorous and disingenuous. Some sections bring healthy scrutiny to the concept of overcapacity. The deep insincerity of other sections suggests contempt for countries facing an onslaught of Chinese exports.