Equality in Action: China's Rise For A World Which Works For Everyone

I am back in India after my years in America, and distance has given me a clearer view. In the US I learned to admire the openness and energy of a big economy. At home I see how much a country can do when it builds patiently for decades. From both vantage points, the latest news from China looks to me like something to welcome rather than fear.

I have always believed a good world order is one where everyone gets a fair chance to grow. India and the US both tend to view China warily, and that wariness is understandable. But a stable world cannot be built to serve only two countries, or only one. It needs China, India and the US all doing well, along with the many nations that trade with them.

## The comeback after the pandemic

The pandemic first surfaced in Wuhan and brought closed factories, empty ports and a deep loss of confidence. Many predicted lasting damage. What followed was quieter and more impressive than the predictions: China rebuilt its industry, moved up the technology ladder, and kept selling to the world through tariffs, shocks and shifting politics.

The third quarter is the latest proof. The economy grew **4.5%** from a year earlier, beating forecasts and improving on the previous quarter's 4.3%, which had been its weakest in more than three years. Compared with the quarter before, output rose **1.2%**, the quickest pace since March. For the first nine months, the economy has grown **4.6%**, comfortably inside the annual goal of 4.5% to 5%. Nine-month output is already worth about **$15.9 trillion**. Notably, Beijing did not need a big emergency stimulus to get here. Strong exports did much of the work.

## September at a glance

September was the standout month, so here are the numbers in one place:

- **Exports:** up **36.3%** from a year earlier, the strongest month since February and well above August's 25%.

- **Monthly surplus:** **$133.5 billion**, among the largest ever recorded and the biggest since January 2025.

- **Nine-month surplus:** **$938 billion**, on course to beat last year's record of about **$1.19 trillion**.

- **Cars:** about **1.18 million** vehicles shipped in the month, up **56%**, with their dollar value up even more.

- **Chips:** semiconductor exports have more than doubled in value over the first nine months.

- **Factories:** industrial output grew **5.5%**, the fastest in six months.

- **Shoppers at home:** retail sales edged up **1.1%**, beating forecasts, though still modest.

## Everyone is a customer

The most telling fact is not the size of China's exports but their reach. In the first three quarters, its goods grew in sales to every major country tracked by its customs agency. Not just the West, and not just Asia, but everywhere. Even shipments to the US jumped by nearly **40%** in September despite the long tariff fight.

That breadth is what I mean by equality in action. When one country sells to everyone and everyone chooses to buy, trade becomes a shared exchange rather than a one-way push. Factories in one place keep workers busy, and shops and homes in many places get better products at fairer prices.

## What the world is actually buying

The mix of goods matters too. These are not the cheap trinkets of an earlier era. They are the chips, batteries and electric cars on which modern life now runs.

For a middle-class family in India, Africa or Southeast Asia, that has real meaning. A good electric car, a solar panel on the roof or a modern phone is more reachable when someone produces them at huge scale. Technology that was once a luxury for rich nations slowly becomes an ordinary comfort. That is a quiet form of equality too: access to modern life, and not only to the news about it.

## Why open trade works for everyone

The last few years offered a useful lesson. Tariffs were meant to shrink China's exports, yet sales kept growing and simply found new routes and new buyers. Walls changed the path of trade but did not stop it. The extra cost often landed on ordinary families and small businesses far from the negotiating table.

An open and balanced system works differently. When many nations trade, no single buyer or seller can hold everyone hostage. A shock in one region is absorbed by the others, and a small country gets access to the same goods as a large one. Everyone gains because nobody is forced to depend on a single source or a single market.

The same principle applies to China itself. A giant surplus can strain its partners: it was **$34 billion** with the US and **$34.8 billion** with Europe in September alone. Last week Brussels announced that China agreed to halve its exports of hybrid cars to the bloc after high-level talks in Beijing. I take that as a hopeful sign: tough problems can be settled at the table, with give and take on both sides. A healthy world needs strong sellers and strong buyers.

## What India can take from this

India has its own strengths, and they are different from China's. We lead in services, software, medicines and a young, ambitious workforce. China leads in making things at enormous scale. These strengths can complement one another rather than collide. Our commerce minister has said recently that India is open to economic engagement with China, and I think that is the right instinct, as long as we engage with open eyes and protect what must be protected.

The lesson I draw is not to copy China, but to learn from its patience. Better roads, dependable power, quicker ports and skilled hands built our neighbour's rise, and the same ingredients are available to us. A world where several large economies grow together has more demand, more jobs and more stability than one where a single giant holds all the cards.

## Honest about what is unfinished

Equality also means telling the whole story. China's growth leans heavily on exports, while spending at home is still soft. The property sector is in a long slump, with new home prices falling, and investment is down. The International Monetary Fund has warned that strong exports cannot fully make up for weakness at home. A cooling in the global appetite for artificial intelligence hardware could also test the export boom.

These are the problems of a country in transition. Ordinary Chinese families need to feel more of this prosperity in their own wallets, and a stronger home market would also help balance trade for everyone else.

## A happy home for all

The pandemic taught us how tightly the world is linked. A closed factory in one country empties shelves in another, and a new invention in one place can help families far away. In that kind of world, one nation's success need not mean another's failure.

China's strong quarter, with sales rising to every corner of the map, is a reminder that prosperity can spread. If the US, India, China and every other nation keep talking, trading fairly and giving each other room to grow, then we are looking at a world that works for everyone.

That is the equality I want to see in action: not everyone the same, but everyone with a fair chance to rise.

*Written from India, with gratitude to America and best wishes to all.*