CHINA’S global market share has risen substantially in the past two years, defying calls for a “decoupling from China” mainly by the United States, British think tank Oxford Economics said in a report released Tuesday. “A broader analysis of China’s global market share trends suggests that its recent rise is driven by gains in developed countries, due in part to the specific nature of the recent expansion of global trade,” said the report, generated by Louis Kuijs, head of Asia Economics at the think tank. The report said while this implies that some of the recent jump in China’s share of the global trade pie will revert, the strong showing of China’s exports to developed countries “confirms that there has been little decoupling thus far.” The analysis showed the gains in developed nations partly came from the recent increase in demand for imports, fueled by a temporary shift from services consumption to goods consumption and a surge in work-from-home demand. “In any case, China’s strong export performance since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic underscores that the global supply chains developed in recent decades — and in which China plays a key role — are much ‘stickier’ than many suspected,” said Kuijs. The report said the export strength reflected less transitory factors, stressing that “a supportive government has also helped.” “In its efforts to ‘defend the country’s role in global supply chains,’ China’s government took measures ranging from cutting fees to helping logistically to get goods to the ports, thus ensuring the availability of products at a time when global supply chains have been under strain,” said Kuijs. Responding to these developments, the think tank again adjusted its long-term outlook in early 2021, becoming less bearish on economic decoupling, said the report. (Xinhua) | 