Question: It's reported that China's “dumping” of products such as new energy vehicles reflects “overcapacity” in relevant Chinese sectors. What's your comment? Embassy Spokesperson: The accusation of “overcapacity” in China's new energy products is neither consistent with the facts nor economic laws. There is no so-called widespread or sustained “overcapacity” in China, nor is there any so-called “export of excess capacity.” Relevant Chinese products are mainly supplied to the domestic market. In 2023, China sold 9.495 million NEVs, of which domestic sales account for 87.3%, and exports only accounted for 12.7%. And the average price of Chinese NEVs in Europe is higher than that in China. There is no so-called “dumping.” Countries produce and export more products of their comparative advantage, and this is the nature of international trade and a basic principle in economics. If a country should be accused of overcapacity and asked to cut capacity whenever it produces more than its domestic demand, then what would countries trade with? If exporting 12% of Chinese-made EVs is called overcapacity, then what about Germany, Japan and the US who export 80%, 50% and 25% respectively of their automobiles? Wouldn’t that be considered more serious overcapacity? Recently, multinational automotive giants have announced additional investments in China, expanding their focus on electric and smart vehicles to achieve complementary advantages and mutually beneficial cooperation with China's new energy sector. However, in total disregard of the call from industry, a few countries still labels China with “overcapacity”, which fully demonstrates that the so-called “overcapacity” is not a market-driven conclusion, but a crafted narrative to manipulate perception. The real purpose is to hold back China’s high-quality development and deprive China of its legitimate right to development. Instead of “China overcapacity”, there is an overcapacity of relevant countries’ anxiety stemming from lack of confidence.
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