China’s Economic Crisis: Can Xi Accelerate it?

On August 10, U.S. President Biden called China’s economy a “ticking time bomb” during a political fundraising event, drawing criticism from Chinese state media. Shortly after, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced it would no longer release youth unemployment data, sparking heated discussions online.

In June 2023, China’s youth unemployment rate was as high as 21.3%, but on August 15, the authorities announced they would stop publishing the data.

Real estate companies like Evergrande and Country Garden continue to face debt defaults, and China’s largest asset management group Zhongzhi Enterprise Group is also in trouble, with financial trust products’ defaults spreading. Foreign direct investment in China has dropped to its lowest level since 1998, and the pace of foreign capital withdrawal is accelerating. In the next ten years, China’s economy might decouple from the West, regressing to the pre-reform era.

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