China socialist market economy better poised to meet trade challenges

China’s socialist market economy has a clear advantage in dealing with challenges and risks and the US will not be able to sustain the fight it has picked with China, head of China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Thursday.

“Our economy has a relatively stronger tolerance. The socialist market economy has obvious institutional advantages in dealing with various difficulties and risks,” Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said in an interview. “But this has nothing to do with so-called State capitalism.”

Guo argued that China’s foreign trade does not rely on a specific country or region because of its “all-round” opening up and that it has a complete industrial system and a massive market of 1.3 billion people.

“Our commodity market and job market are relatively flexible and our foreign-related economic sectors’ ability to make flexible adjustment is more prominent,” Guo said in the interview with Chinese financial newspaper Financial News, according to a transcript.

While Guo did not specifically mention the US, he was responding to a question about China’s advantages in trade friction with the US.

His comments came a day before the US is scheduled to impose punitive tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday, which China has threatened to fight back against by slapping tariffs on $34 billion worth of US goods on the same day.