China’s economy has been growing rapidly over the past decades and depending on what statistic you measure (particularly nominal GDP) is either the first or second biggest economy in the world behind only the United States. This is in large part to China being the largest goods exporter in the world, with China’s 2022’s exports measuring in the 3 trillions, and second only behind the US in imports. As part of this, China and the US are also each other’s biggest sources of export and importing. (Visual Capitalist, 1)

However China’s growth has been slowing down and doubt has been building within China’s economic sectors. Much of this is due to growing rivalry and discord between China and Western countries that, as seen with the US, are China’s biggest sources of income and purchases. (CSIS, 2)

Because of this growing tension between the West, countries world wide are trying to stop their reliance on China’s market, which may further slow down the Chinese economy, with some sources such as The Financial Times (3), saying it may not be as certain that China will overtake the US as the biggest economy anymore due to several reasons such as China’s strict zero-covid policy and a large amount of debt at the local level. Some have also blamed China’s centralized economy (state owning enterprises) and inefficient government owned companies as part of the problem with The Financial Times stating that China should allow it’s private sector to grow.

El-Erian, M. (2023, September 8). It’s no longer a given that China will become the world’s largest economy. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/20a14331-d282-4039-97d2-71d777359733