Security guards try to keep protestors angry about failed investments with Hunan Bofeng Asset Management Ltd. out of a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Changsha, Hunan. Credit: Chinatopix via AP
China’s political system is preoccupied with stability, particularly in the runup to a quinquennial Party Congress meeting. But there has been little understanding of how the Communist Party’s efforts to cultivate a perception of political stability have interacted with financial stability in China. Nor has there been a full appreciation of how the bargain between the Party and Chinese citizens, that has broadly sustained this financial stability in the recent past, has now fundamentally changed. Against that background, public messaging that Xi Jinping is set to further consolidate and centralize control at the 20th Party Congress is now more likely to generate risks within China’s financial system, rather than defusing them.
China has to date avoided a major financial crisis, despite its eye-watering debt levels — the result of the largest single-country credit expansion relative to global GDP in over a century. This is not because of commonly cited macroeconomic fac
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
Why is one of Taiwan's largest media groups — Want Want China Times Media Group — spreading anti-U.S. rhetoric? Largely because its billionaire owner, Tsai Eng-meng, is known to sympathize with the Chinese Communist Party and favors unification with the mainland. Now, with Taiwan gearing up for a critical presidential election, Want Want’s efforts are picking up and helping to normalize CCP talking points.
A look at ZPMC: how it came to dominate ports around the world; its role in Chinese foreign policy; and the consequences of its links to the Chinese state.
The author and academic talks about how trade has actually changed over the last 40 years; why China's rise is linked to Asia's regionalization; and why international supply chains are efficient and resilient.
