China to share high-quality energy capacity with Liberia

China commits to sharing energy capacity with Liberia to promote the country’s photovoltaic industry.

By Lincoln G. Peters

Monrovia, Liberia, May 31, 2024 – The People’s Republic of China, through its Embassy near Monrovia, has committed to sharing China’s high-quality new energy production capacity with Liberia to promote the West African nation’s photovoltaic industry.

The assistance will enable the two nations to jointly respond to the challenges of Global climate change and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ARREST agenda of Liberia’s President Joseph N. Boakai.

Chinese Ambassador to Liberia Yin Chengwu, in an article titled “China Should not be Labeled as ‘Overcapacity’” dated May 30, 2024, said that Liberia is highly dependent on fossil fuels to supply energy, but it is rich in solar energy resources and has great potential to develop a clean energy industry.

He notes that one of the world’s greatest challenges today is ensuring energy security and combating global climate change. China is willing to work with Liberia to carry out practical cooperation in relevant fields.

The Chinese envoy stated that as President Xi Jinping said, ‘Inclusiveness, shared benefits and win-win outcomes are what they should pursue, adding, “China will only open its door wider to the outside world, and the pace of development of the new energy industry will not stop.”

Ambassador Yin continues, “We also hope that all countries will make the right choice and not step back into the river of protectionism again.”

Recently, in international political propaganda, some claim that China has used government subsidies to create overcapacity in electric vehicles and other new energy sources.

The report further stated that in order to absorb the overcapacity, China has dumped its products overseas at what the Chinese term “so-called” low prices, distorting market prices and harming the economies of other countries.

However, Yin debunked the allegation and said that China is not disrupting international markets while clarifying that there is no overcapacity in China’s new energy production.

‘Overcapacity’ is an economic concept that means the production capacity of a particular industry exceeds the market demand, resulting in an imbalance of demand exceeding supply as a performance of the market mechanism.

The Ambassador pointed out that China’s new energy products do not rely on subsidies because China is an early mover in the new energy industry. Strong industrial support covers all aspects, from the supply of raw materials, manufacturing of components, assembly of complete machines, and after-sales service. 

He disclosed that with a population of more than 1.4 billion and 240 million college-educated people, China offers an extremely large and high-quality labor market for the new energy industry.

“The propaganda about China’s ‘overcapacity’ is malicious. Some countries distort the meaning of ‘overcapacity’ and generalize the concept of ‘national security,’ which essentially targets China’s advantageous industries and curbs China’s development. In the eyes of some people, China’s cranes and smart cars are ‘spy weapons.’ Steel, aluminum, ceramics, ships, new energy, and other industries all have ‘overcapacity.’ China has posed a security threat to them in key core and advanced technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, supercomputing, and biomedicine”, he stated.

Ambassador Yin noted that promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the global supply chain has become a global consensus, while some countries cannot ask China to shoulder emission reduction responsibilities that are incompatible with its developing country status and are ‘selectively blind’ to the contribution of China’s new energy products to global emission reduction.

He lamented that this essentially disregards the rights of many developing countries to enjoy the fruits of green technological innovation and catch up with the trend of green transformation.

According to him, China’s new energy products are primarily supplied to the domestic market and are not exported on a large scale. He adds that in 2023, China’s new energy vehicles accounted for 87.3% of the domestic sales and only 12.7% of the export volume.

“The three Chinese vehicle companies involved in the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation accounted for only 1.1% of the European market. The average price of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe is more than 31,000 euros, which is double the domestic price of China’s, so there is no so-called ‘low price dumping,’ he concluded. Editing by Jonathan Browne