Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

British consultancy Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) predicted in its annual report on Sunday that China will overtake the US as the world's top economy in 2030, two years later than its previous forecast one year ago.

The two largest economies in the world, to be compared side-to-side, is perfectly normal. A number of international think tanks and economic research institutions have been issuing similar forecasts every year.

Two weeks ago, the Japan Center for Economics Research (JCER) predicted that China is set to become the world's largest economy in 2033. 

"China 2049: Economic challenges of a rising global power," a report jointly carried out by China's Peking University and the US' Brookings Institution last year said that after 2030, China's GDP would surpass the US, to become the world's largest economy. 

It seems that the international academic circles of economics have almost drawn a common conclusion: China's economy will surpass the US sooner or later. However, the purposes behind those researches are not all the same and can lead to totally different interpretations.

US politicians and academicians embracing a zero-sum mindset are apparently not willing to see those predictions become true. Viewing it as a warning, they have been urging the US government to suppress and undermine all aspects of Chinese economic development.

It was under the dominance of such radical anti-China voices that the former Trump administration launched the reckless trade and technology war against China. Yet, Trump's irrational trade policies against the very basic economic laws have proved to be a complete failure that harmed the US' own economy. 

The Biden administration has clearly failed to learn any lessons from his predecessor. Shortly after Biden took the White House in January 2021, he ordered his team to start reviewing Trump's tariffs. However, almost one year later, the unreasonable tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods remain there.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored China's economic resilience and also laid bare the US' hidden economic woes. Thanks to effective pandemic prevention and targeted macroeconomic policies, China became the only economy in the world that achieved a positive growth last year. This year, the Chinese economy has maintained a good momentum despite headwinds. In 2022, China will face a dynamic and opportune macro environment to secure a relatively fast growth.

The US' economy, on the other hand, is struggling with a multitude of challenges. The massive liquidity injection by the Biden administration to stimulate recovery not only caused inflation to spike in the country, but also aggravated polarization between the rich and the poor. 

Worse, the elevated US inflation has squeezed out room for effective macro policies rooms to deal with any abrupt economic shocks. "The important issue for the 2020s is how the world economies cope with inflation, which has now reached 6.8 percent in the US," CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams warned.

Admittedly, there is still economic competition between China and the US, but both sides enjoy largely mutually beneficial trade. The US must view the competition and rise of China's economy rationally. 

Badmouthing and suppressing the Chinese economy have been proven to be a waste of time. If the naysayers in the US and its allies continue to bet on undermining China's economy, what they will get at the end of the day is nothing but disappointment.

It is China's legitimate right to seek economic development and protect the well-being of its people. China does not have intention to surpass or overtake any economy. 

As many renowned American economists have called for, to respond to the current global economic challenges and promote recovery in the post-COVID era, the US should put aside its political calculations and stop suppressing China's economic growth. 

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn