US trade war will only make us stronger, China's top paper says

The trade war with the United States will only make China stronger and will never bring the country to its knees, the Communist Party’s People’s Daily wrote in a front page commentary that evoked the patriotic spirit of past wars.

The world’s two largest economies are locked in an increasingly acrimonious trade dispute that has seen them level tariffs on each other’s imports.

Tensions worsened this week after the Trump administration officially added China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to a trade blacklist, immediately enacting restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the telecom giant to do business with US companies.

In a stridently nationalistic commentary, the ruling party’s official newspaper described China’s determination to protect it national interests and dignity as being as “firm as a boulder”.

“The trade war can’t bring China down. It will only harden us to grow stronger,” it said.

“What kind of storms have not been seen, what bumps have not experienced for China, with its more than 5,000 years of civilization? In the face of hurricanes, the nearly 1.4 billion Chinese people have confidence and stamina.”

China’s confidence comes from the spirit of its people’s perseverance and endless struggle, it added, citing major disasters like floods, SARS and 2008’s massive Sichuan earthquake.

“From the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea – disaster and misery have come one after the other, tempering the Chinese people, pushing Chinese society to forge ahead in setbacks and move forward in adversity.”