In some Western media outlets and think tanks, a so-called "China Squeeze" theory has recently emerged. According to this theory, China's growing exports in the manufacturing sector and the new energy sector are limiting opportunities for other countries in global markets and may hinder industrialization in developing economies.
In early August, historian and economic commentator Adam Tooze from Columbia University challenged this interpretation. In his article on the Substack platform, he described the "China Squeeze" theory as a political argument based primarily on hypothetical scenarios rather than concrete economic data.
Tooze points out that the debate about the impact of China's economic rise is not new. Around 2010, American academics began using the term "China Shock" to describe the impact of China's rapid export growth after its accession to the World Trade Organization on certain industries and jobs in the United States.
Later, the term "China Shock 2.0" emerged, associated primarily with European concerns about increasing competition from Chinese electric vehicles and other industrial products.
In 2026, two Indian academics presented a concept called "China Shock 3.0" or "China Squeeze" in the journal Foreign Affairs. Their argument is based on the concern that China's vast production capacity may limit the opportunities for other developing countries to build their own industrial base.
However, Tooze criticizes this line of reasoning. While previous debates were at least partially based on observable economic impacts, the current "China Squeeze" theory rests primarily on assumptions about what might happen in the future.
Therefore, according to Tooze, it is not possible to automatically assume that economic growth in one country must necessarily come at the expense of development in other countries. He argues that economic development is not a race in which the success of one state means a loss for all others.
Tooze therefore calls for a broader perspective on the current global economy. Instead of demonizing China, he believes that the world needs to normalize relations between different economic centers and evaluate the actual impacts of trade and industrial competition based on concrete data.
From this point of view, the so-called "China Squeeze" is primarily a hypothetical construct. According to Tooze, China's stronger position in the global economy does not automatically mean that the country blocks the development of other states.
gnews.cz/CMG https://czech.cgtn.com/2026/08/12/ARTI1786518239186227 Translation: legacy (English)