In March 2022, the Chinese government set a target of 5-5.5% GDP growth for the year. At the time, such growth levels appeared perfectly attainable. But within a month, the Omicron variant had arrived, triggering strict lockdowns that, while stemming the spread of the coronavirus, caused serious damage to the supply and demand sides of the economy. China’s growth rate for 2022 was just 3%.

Paradoxically, last year set a record for trade between China and the United States, notwithstanding hostilities. But while the internal dynamics for economic interaction and trade remain resilient for now, some analysts see clouds on the horizon.

With the lift of zero-Covid restrictions, Chinese policymakers are in search of a new politico-economic model to sustain Chinese growth and innovation in the 2020s.

A ban on the export of advanced chip manufacturing equipment to China by the Netherlands and Japan, imposes sweeping restrictions. The ban aims to contain China’s semiconductor industry and further widen America’s tech lead. But it’s not going to work.

China lags far behind the United States in most areas of technology, while leading in only a few. Going forward, U.S. strategy will likely involve “precision decoupling” to control the core technologies China needs most.

The U.S./NATO-led proxy war in Ukraine is aimed against Russia, and is not for the good of Ukraine. It is an unwarranted war that could penalize global economic prospects for years to come, and any escalation will only make a terrifying status quo far worse.

Most experts see China’s economy moving on an upward track. If a 5.0 percent growth rate is achieved this year, as expected, China will contribute 0.9 percentage points to slumping global GDP growth, and it will continue to be a leading economic engine in the years ahead.

China will stay on a positive trajectory this year, but its achievements did not come easily. Some fundamentals still need to be addressed, as the foundation underpinning the recovery is not yet rock solid. Boosting incomes would make a difference.

Technology is ground zero in the conflict between the United States and China. For the American hegemon, it is about the leading edge of geostrategic power and the means for sustained prosperity. For China, it holds the key to the indigenous innovation required of a rising power. The tech war now underway between the two superpowers could well be the defining struggle of the twenty-first century.

2022 was not a good year for the Chinese economy. In 2022, the COVID-19 epidemic, which started in December 2019, caused significant economic disruptions in the second quarter, especially in Shanghai, resulting in a real rate of growth for the Mainland economy of only 3.0% for the year as a whole. This is the second lowest annual rate since economic reform and opening began in 1978.