PKU Economist Yao Yang on US-China Tech War and China's Economy

"If they continue to intensify their technology embargo on China ... Then, I believe, we should fight back. We also have trump cards. We could, for instance, ban the export of rare earths to the US."

Hello Everyone,

Today’s edition consists of a long interview with one of China’s top and most outspoken economists, Yao Yang (姚洋). Yao is, amongst other things, a distinguished professor of economics and director of the National School of Development at Peking University. Many of you will already be familiar with some of his views, but perhaps less so with his take on the US’s tech competition with China. The excerpts below are from an interview conducted by Guancha.cn a couple of weeks ago. Yao’s main points are as follows:

On the US-China tech rivalry:

• The US’s tech decoupling from China has been exacerbated by overly strong calls within the PRC for technological autonomy.

• China is entirely capable of producing low to mid-end chips on its own.

• Yao suggests promoting free trade and stronger ties with major powers such as Japan and Europe as a means of countering Washington’s crackdown.

• He proposes that Beijing’s policies and subsidies towards the country’s chip industry should treat Chine…