When the dust settles on the coming economic snapback, China’s chronic growth problems are likely to resurface with a vengeance.
Spring Festival travelers waiting at Hongqiao Railway Station, Shanghai, January 7, 2023. Credit: Imaginechina via AP Images
Long critical of Chinese censorship and Communist Party verbiage, world financial markets have enthusiastically embraced Beijing’s spin heralding a powerful post-Zero Covid reopening. Western media are similarly enthusiastic. In a breathless recent cover story, The Economist concluded that “China’s reopening will be the biggest economic event of 2023.” Just like that, the perfect storm is apparently about to turn into a beautiful day.
Proponents of the reopening p
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