What Xi Jinping gets wrong about China’s economy
Despite his protestations, the country does have an overcapacity problem
![Employees work on the production line at Xiaomi’s Electric Vehicle Factory in Beijing](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240511_FNP001.jpg)
The EU is no stranger to overcapacity. Its economic landscape once featured butter mountains, milk lakes and other landmarks of excess production—the surreal results of its common agricultural policy, which guaranteed high prices to dairy farmers. Thus the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, knew what she was talking about when she warned Xi Jinping, China’s ruler, about his country’s “structural overcapacities” at a recent meeting in Paris.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Electric cars and more”
Finance & economics May 11th 2024
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