Relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest point in decades, amid disputes over trade, technology, human rights and China’s increasingly aggressive approach to its territorial claims over Taiwan’s self-rule and the South China Sea .
Jason Lee | Reuters
BEIJING – US President Donald Trump’s new running mate JD Vance stuck to a hard line on China in his first speech since his election earlier this week.
“Together we will protect the wages of American workers and stop the Chinese Communist Party from building their middle class on the backs of American citizens,” Vance said on the third night of the Republican National Convention.
He also called for more factories in the US and restrictions on foreign workers, but did not mention specific actions.
Vance, a former Trump critic, rose to fame with his book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ – a first-hand account that attempts to impact on the US economy as manufacturing left the country. As Ohio’s current senator, Vance proposed legislation in September promoting petrol and hybrid cars made in the USA and eliminating subsidies for electric cars.
China’s ruling Communist Party has increasingly focused on developing advanced manufacturing processes and said one of its goals for the year 2035 is to “substantially grow the middle-income group as a percentage of the total population.”
China has a population of 1.4 billion, more than four times the US population of 336.7 million. McKinsey predicts the number of upper-middle- and high-income Chinese households could reach 200 million next year.
However, China remains much poorer per capita than the US.
The Chinese middle-income group had a disposable income per capita of 32,195 yuan ($4,436) last year, slightly lower than the national level of 39,218 yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The agency defined each income category by dividing all households surveyed into five equal parts, including upper-middle-income, middle-income and lower-middle-income groups.
Disposable per capita income in the US was many times higher at $61,033 according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data as of December.
When looking at the American middle class, middle income It was $106,100 in 2022, according to Pew Research.
But the share of Americans considered middle class fell to 51% in 2023, down from 61% in 1971, Pew said. The study found that the share of higher-income Americans grew slightly more than that of the lower-income segment during that time.
Vance criticized Wall Street and “cheap foreign goods” from China in his speech. He also blamed China for the fentanyl crisis.
Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has increased its role in global supply chains. Many of the world’s largest companies depend on cheaper production centers in China for their supplies.
Trump has said he plans to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 60% if he is re-elected in the fall. When he was president about six years ago, he raised duties on Chinese products, and the Biden administration left them intact.
Vance told Fox News earlier this week that China, rather than the war in Ukraine, was the “real problem” for the US posed the ‘greatest threat’.
Asked about Vance’s comment, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a daily news conference on Tuesday: “We are always is against making China a problem in the American elections.”
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this reportT.