It is not China's economy that needs "rebalancing." It is America's mindset that needs to change.

BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has once again beaten the worn drum of "rebalancing" China's economy, doubling down on a relentless smear campaign against China's successful development model.

His latest verbal attack on China at the 2025 World Bank Group and IMF Spring Meetings is just an old trick in Washington's playbook-- scapegoating another country while its own economy in deep trouble.

Far from being "imbalanced," China's economy is in the midst of a dynamic transformation that Washington either simply cannot understand or chooses to ignore. By contrast, it is the United States -- stuck in protectionism and reliant on unsustainable, debt-propelled growth -- that poses the real threat to the stability of the global economy.

While its industrialization rise was initially built on manufacturing and exports, China has measuredly pivoted toward a consumption- and innovation-driven model since the 2010s. This shift is already well underway.

In 2024, consumption contributed 44.5 percent of China's economic growth and services expanded to 56.7 percent of GDP. The digital sector reaped a profit of 2.7 trillion yuan (371 billion U.S. dollars), up by 3.5 percent year on year, underscoring China's steady transition toward a modern, consumption-led and tech-driven growth model. These figures underscore a clear trend: China's economy is modernizing, diversifying and shifting toward new and more sustainable growth drivers.

Washington's any claim about China "moving further away" from domestic consumption simply collapses under the weight of such data.

As a responsible major country, China has also steadily expanded its imports. In 2024 alone, China's total imports reached about 18.4 trillion yuan, increasing by 2.3 percent year-on-year. The scale of imports hit a record high and China has remained the world's second-largest import market for 16 consecutive years.

While China has been modernizing its economic engine, Washington is stuck in a doom loop of its own making: drowning in a gross debt of over 36 trillion dollars, addicted to Wall Street's casino economics, and watching its factories turn into rust belt.

Bessent's claim that China's economy poses a threat to the rest of the world isn't just absurd -- it's straight out of Washington's tired playbook: sow division, stoke fear, and bully other nations into joining its desperate campaign to stifle China's development.

Over the past year, U.S. officials have relentlessly hyped the "Chinese overcapacity" scare in clean energy. But their true anxiety is obvious: China has raced past America in green tech innovation, and Washington can't stomach being outcompeted. Instead of stepping up its game, it's fallen back on the same tired ploys -- smears, market suppression and knee-jerk protectionism.

Take electric vehicles (EVs). Global demand is far from being saturated. According to International Energy Agency projections, global EV sales will triple to 45 million by 2030, far outstripping current production capacity. This isn't "overcapacity" -- it's China positioning itself to meet the world's accelerating demand for clean transportation.

China's clean energy dominance isn't about "dumping" -- it's about outperforming the competition. The country's leadership in EVs, solar and renewables stems from world-class innovation and hard-won efficiency advantages, not artificial support. While competitors cry foul, Chinese firms have simply built better products at competitive prices through real market competition.

Simply put, Washington fears not "structural imbalance" but "structural progress." China's ascent into high-end manufacturing directly challenges America's profit monopolies in advanced industries. This isn't about leveling the playing field; it's about protecting uncompetitive sectors from actual market competition.

Worse still, by demonizing China's growth, Washington is fueling division at a time when global cooperation is more imperative than ever.

The real threat to global prosperity isn't China's growth but America's outdated zero-sum mentality. While China's development creates opportunities for all, Washington still sees the world through a Cold War lens, treating every economic advance as a danger to be suppressed rather than progress to be welcomed.

Only by discarding its Cold War mindset can America play a constructive role in shaping a more stable, inclusive and prosperous global economy. It is not China's economy that needs "rebalancing." It is America's mindset that needs to change.