China consumption

China’s academic and policy circles see economic and diplomatic opportunities amid the crisis of Washington’s trade war.

Beijing is executing a three-layered plan: shoring up its domestic front, tightening the screws on the U.S., and repositioning itself on the global stage.

Contrary to popular belief, Chinese consumers already spend much more of what they earn than their American counterparts. Low wages are to blame for stagnant consumption.

The voices shaping economic strategy extend beyond the Communist Party’s inner circle to include a select “brain trust” of prominent economists.

The CCP leadership pledged to prioritize domestic consumption and demand, but markets remain skeptical.

Planned reforms could indirectly help balance China-U.S. trade by boosting consumption, thereby reducing political hostility between the two major powers. 

Beijing is signaling that its approach this time will be different, with more appetite to ride out economic difficulties.

Xi Jinping’s focus on ideological struggle will not help overcome the long-term problems that constrain China’s potential.

“China’s development is beginning to have fundamental contradictions.”

Thanks to a rapid build-up in its domestic security capacity, the Party has the ability to substitute hard control for economic legitimacy.

China must take care not to let the current trend follow the pattern of the bicycle-sharing fiasco.

China's economic data for April came in below expectations, in sharp contrast to rosy data from 2019's first quarter.