China’s concept of strategic autonomy is about dual circulation

Abstract

China’s dual circulation could be considered a form of strategic autonomy but it differs in many aspects. First and foremost, China’s dual circulation has as ultimate objective China’s self-reliance or, in other words, China’s reduced dependence from Western imports, specially technology or any other which can create bottlenecks for the Chinese economy. While the EU’s concept of strategic autonomy also pays attention to the resilience of supply chains, its ultimat objective is not self-reliance, as it focuses on co-dependence, as has been clarified by the addition «open» strategic autonomy. Finally, China’s dual circulation also aims at fostering export markets beyond China’s already very high share of global exports which inevitable increases the world dependence on China.