The allegation by some United States officials that China faces "overcapacity" in its electric vehicle (EV) industry has in fact reflected its jittery anxiety of falling behind in the domain, said an expert on China-U.S. relations on Thursday.
Some U.S. officials, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have persistently hyped up the narrative of "China's overcapacity", especially in green energy sector, to complain about China's fast-tracking growth in the sector while covering up its incompetence and disadvantage in the domain.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Lyu Xiang, a research fellow of the Institute of American Studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said this "overcapacity" labeling is purely out of the fear for its lagging behind in EV sector.
"When U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in China, she accused China of the so-called 'overcapacity' in the electric vehicles. We know that last year China produced about 30 million passenger cars, including about 10 million electric vehicles. But we know that it's far less than the existing and future demand in the market. So now we see that the U.S. especially fearing that the U.S. auto industry is to be left behind by China's capacity in producing EVs," said Lyu.
Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed in 2023, production and sales of NEVs exceeded 9.58 million and 9.49 million units, surging 35.8 percent and 37.9 percent year on year, respectively, both accounting for over 60 percent of the global total.
U.S. "overcapacity" narrative exposes its anxiety of falling behind in EV sector: expert
