The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist party has confirmed many of the worst fears of watchers of Chinese politics. The economic outcomes of the congress are more nuanced however. Xi Jinping’s clean sweep of promotions to the Standing Committee of the Politburo clearly implies his dominance of the …

China has had a dramatic year, with policy directions pushed around by circumstances. In particular there have been three policy conflicts: economic reform vs short term stimulus, zero Covid vs economic growth, and carbon emissions reductions vs economic stability. These have had both short- and long-term consequences, but as there …

China has had a difficult summer, but for much of this period steel markets held out some hope of a better autumn. After all, stimulus funds were being made available and the government was saying there should be no panic. As August stumbled from crisis to crisis however, hopes for …

China’s Politburo meeting at the end of July has set the tone for economic policy in the second half of the year. It ruled out stronger large-scale stimulus, although some policy support will be necessary just to keep the economy ticking over. Hopes of another boom, like that seen after …