Category: China’s economy

China’s Failed Economic Strategies

Commentary China’s economy is unraveling because its economic strategies are failing. Such is the way with communists. Beijing’s primary economic strategy is to revive international trade and investment ties with the West, especially Europe. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees Brussels as more compliant than Washington, which is true though even the European Commission last…


When China’s Economy Slumps, so Does Beijing’s Political Power

Commentary China’s economy is in desperate straits. So desperate that officials in one county in Guangdong Province offered an illegal bribe to U.S. investors. Any U.S. corporate “decision maker” who brings investment, according to The Wall Street Journal, would get 10 percent of the deal’s total value. A $100 million investment by a U.S. company,…


Gloomy Outlook for China Exports, as Economy Struggles to Recover Amid Weakened Global Demand

China’s exports rapidly declined last month as part of an economic downturn unseen since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese policymakers are under pressure to implement new stimulus measures in light of the challenges that the global economy is currently experiencing. The first quarter saw a momentary pickup in China’s economic recovery following the…


China’s Economic Prospects Worsen

Commentary Three Chinese tech companies on Feb. 21 lost $33 billion of value in U.S. stock trading. Alibaba Group, JD.com, and PDD Holdings are finding it harder to expand internationally, and so turned to cutthroat competition with each other for domestic markets that will likely demolish their prices and profits. While within the last few…


Will ‘Revenge Spending’ Save China’s Economy?

Commentary Much economic news coming out of China references “revenge spending.” It is a strange use of language. Nowhere in its use does anyone indicate who is getting revenge or on whom. It seems to have emerged from the expectation that heavy consumer spending now that the economy has reopened—spending with a “vengeance”—will overcome other…


The East-West Wage Gap Is Closing

Commentary One of China’s great economic advantages is going away. Relatively low-cost, reliable labor has been a mainstay of China’s economic engine for decades. Manufacturers from Europe and North America for years rushed investments into China to produce their products at a lower cost than they could domestically, first simple, cheaper items and later more…


Dubious Prospects for Xi’s China

Commentary Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members have completed their 20th National Congress. Now, all know for sure what was apparent even before the conference convened. Xi Jinping is firmly in control and has placed loyalists in every position of power. From this easily anticipated outcome, it is possible to draw three conclusions about China’s future….


China’s Film Industry Saw 40 Percent Box Office Drop in the First Half of 2022

China’s film industry has entered a deep winter amid the communist regime’s draconian COVID-19 lockdowns, with box office attendance in the first half of 2022 down nearly 40 percent year-on-year and no clear sign of recovery. Despite the summer holiday, which is the peak season for China’s film industry, box office sales have been lackluster…


China Faces Economic Double-Whammy

Commentary Inflation is about to hit China at a very inopportune time. Inflation and specters of a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hike could present a double whammy on China’s economy as it struggles to come out of COVID-19 lockdowns. Official National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed Chinese factory gate prices, or the cost…


China’s Economy Hit With a 3-Punch Combination

News Analysis China’s economy has had a rough summer, hit first by a rise in COVID-19 infections, then by the impending bankruptcy of the giant real estate developer Evergrande, and now by severe power shortages throughout the country. The coming months might bring relief on the COVID-19 front, but though the authorities are scrambling, the…