Commerce ministry officials rebut so-called "China overcapacity" narrative

China's industrial development brings more opportunities and growth space to the world, according to two commerce ministry officials who spoke Tuesday at a press conference in Beijing to clarify the country's position on the so-called overcapacity issue.

In response to the so-called "China Shock 2.0" narrative, which claims that Chinese industrial development harms Western markets and crowds out Global South economies, the commerce ministry officials said the argument is factually baseless and untenable. They stressed that capacity issues should be viewed in a comprehensive, objective and fair manner, and must not be used as a pretext for protectionism.

"China delivers more development opportunities and a larger growth space to the world. This is what many rational and objective voices in the international community refer to as 'China opportunity 2.0'," said Yan Dong, vice minister of commerce.

"China Opportunity 2.0" aptly summarizes China's more open, inclusive, and tech-powered economic engagement with the rest of the world, which comes after its integration into the global economy following 40-plus years of reform and opening up.

On evaluating capacity-related issues, officials noted that the internationally standard metric for gauging overcapacity is capacity utilization, defined as the ratio of actual output to potential output. There is no universal global benchmark for the indicator, as reasonable ranges differ across economies.

The median capacity utilization rate is typically between 75 percent and 80 percent in developed and fast-growing economies, while in less developed countries it generally ranges from 50 percent to 64 percent.

China's overall industrial capacity utilization remains within a reasonable range relative to these international norms, according to Lin Weilong, director of the Policy Research Office at the Ministry of Commerce.

"Judging from China's actual development conditions, the overall industrial capacity utilization rate is in a proper interval. In 2025, the capacity utilization rate of industrial enterprises above designated size stood at 74.4 percent, with sectors including high-tech manufacturing, high-end equipment manufacturing and strategic emerging industries boasting even fuller capacity utilization," Lin said.

Commerce ministry officials rebut so-called "China overcapacity" narrative

China's electric vehicle charging infrastructure saw rapid expansion in the first half of 2026, amid the country's continuous efforts to facilitate wider EV adoption through improved supporting network.

The country's total charging facilities reached 23.06 million by the end of June, up 43.2 percent year on year, according to data released Tuesday by the National Energy Administration.

Of the total, public charging facilities exceeded 5 million, an increase of 22.3 percent from a year earlier. Private charging facilities reached 18.05 million, surging 50.4 percent year on year.

Holiday charging demand has been steadily rising, as seen during this year's May Day holiday. Average daily charging volume on highways hit 18.99 million kilowatt-hours, up 14.09 percent from this year's Spring Festival holiday.

At the same time, the charging network in counties and towns has been continuously strengthened, with county-level coverage reaching 98.61 percent by the end of June.

China unveiled a three-year action plan in October 2025 to improve EV charging infrastructure, aiming to build a nationwide network of 28 million charging facilities, with public charging capacity expected to exceed 300 million kilowatts by the end of 2027.

China's EV charging infrastructure expands rapidly in Jan-June