The Curious Case of China's Dangerous Ability to Manufacture Things at Scale China's Greatest Crime: Making Stuff People Want The West has discovered a shocking new law of economics: If China produces something successfully, it's overcapacity. Let's review the official terminology. •Britain flooding the world with textiles in the 19th century = Comparative Advantage™ •America dominating global manufacturing after WWII = Industrial Leadership™ •Japan exporting millions of cars = Economic Miracle™ •South Korea conquering shipbuilding = National Competitiveness™ China exporting EVs, batteries, solar panels and industrial equipment? Overcapacity. It's a fascinating scientific phenomenon. The exact same activity changes its name depending on who is doing it. Imagine if Olympic commentary worked this way: Michael Phelps wins eight gold medals. Headline: "Remarkable swimming competitiveness." Chinese swimmer wins eight gold medals. Headline: "Concerning overcapacity in gold medal winners. Are they doping?" Calls grow for World Anti-Doping Agency to specifically investigate Chinese swimmers. The funniest thing about the argument is that it can't decide whether China is a communist command economy or a capitalist free-for-all. When Chinese firms succeed: "Beijing controls everything!" When Beijing tries to slow down local investment: "Look, Beijing can't control anything!" Pick a lane. According to the latest theory, Xi Jinping wakes up every morning and personally approves every exported toaster. "Comrades, after careful consultation with Marx, Engels, and the Central Committee, I have authorized the production of 37 additional air fryers." Meanwhile, nobody asks the forbidden question: If China has overcapacity, does somebody else have undercapacity? Perhaps spending three decades shutting factories, outsourcing production, neglecting infrastructure, and convincing an entire generation that making PowerPoint slides is more important than making machine tools was not the master plan everyone imagined. But that's a dangerous line of inquiry. Much safer to blame the country that still manufactures things. Notice how nobody complains about overcapacity in consulting. Nobody says: "The United States has produced 400,000 surplus management consultants and over 1,000,000 hedge fund managers" "Europe suffers from excess capacity in regulatory paperwork." "There are too many think tank reports and not enough washing machines." No, only physical products count. The truly remarkable achievement of modern economics is turning consumer preference into evidence of wrongdoing. People buy Chinese EVs? Suspicious. People buy Chinese solar panels? Very suspicious. People buy Chinese batteries? Extremely suspicious. At no point does anyone consider the radical possibility that customers might simply like the products. In the end, "overcapacity" increasingly sounds less like an economic diagnosis and more like emotional damage. For decades economists taught: Competition is good. China took notes. Now the lesson has been updated: Competition is good, unless you're winning. Coming soon to a newspaper near you: •China has too many engineers. •China has too many factories. •China has too much electricity. •China has too much high-speed rail. •China has too many products people keep insisting on buying. The horror. Not since the invention of affordable consumer goods has humanity faced such a grave threat. foreignpolicy.com/2026/10/26…