Hot Take: China's wind power reality, beyond Trump's claims

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that China avoids using wind power domestically despite being the world's largest turbine manufacturer.

"China makes almost all of the windmills, and yet I haven't been able to find any wind farms in China," Trump said, arguing China sells the turbines abroad "for a fortune" while taking advantage of "stupid" buyers.

But is that true? Here is the reality.

Over the years, CGTN reporters have traveled across China, documenting the country's wind power development. Wind farms stretch across deserts, stand offshore in the ocean and rise on freezing mountain plateaus.

We even climbed one of these giants. Some turbines tower hundreds of meters high.

Just two months before Trump's claim was made, China's installed wind power capacity passed 600 million kilowatts, the largest in the world, for the 15th year in a row.

And they're not slowing down. By the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), offshore wind capacity is expected to exceed 100 million kilowatts, adding fresh momentum toward China's dual carbon goals.

China has built the most comprehensive policy framework for cutting carbon emissions. By August 2025, the country's installed wind and solar capacity had already surpassed 1.69 billion kilowatts.

China also runs the world's largest new energy industry chain. Its installed power generation capacity accounts for about one-third of the world's total, and more than one in every three kilowatt-hours consumed in the country comes from green power sources. On top of that, China produces over 80 percent of the world's photovoltaic modules and 70 percent of global wind power equipment.

And the benefits of this green development are not just at home. China has been sharing its experience with other countries, including Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, some of the very countries Trump once described as "stupid."

During the past five years, China's exports of wind and photovoltaic products helped reduce carbon emissions overseas by about 4.1 billion tonnes.