China is in debt. Its debt is nearly 300 percent of its GDP, the fourth highest among the G20. Nevertheless, China has set the ambitious goal of doubling its per capita income from 2020 levels by 2035. Significant challenges stand in its path: its rising debt, a shrinking labour force and growing protectionist pressures.
CIGI Senior Fellow Mark Kruger contends that China must respond to these anti-international trade pressures through the classic outsourcing model: investing in manufacturing in foreign markets, retaining up- and downstream activities at home while preserving its market access. But China’s success hinges, in no small part, on the rest of the world’s willingness to engage. And the United States appears to be inadvertently helping those odds.
