More Bad News For China

Honor guards stand at attention at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, January 14, 2019. (Thomas Peter/REUTERS)

Michael Auslin, National Review: More Bad News for China

The Wall Street Journal (paywalled) reports that China’s economy is growing at its slowest rate since 1990 — and that those are the official figures, which, as the article notes, are viewed increasingly skeptically by economists. Of course, the official 6.6 percent growth rate would be the envy of all developed countries, but for China, it’s a continuation of a slowdown that underscores the major challenges facing the Chinese Communist Party and government in the next decade. As I argued in my book, The End of the Asian Century, decades of sweeping problems under the rug have caught up with China. From a labor shortage (thanks to the One Child Policy), which drives up labor costs, to malinvestment and crony capitalism, along with horrific environmental damage, China’s vaunted economic model was unsustainable in the long run. The extraordinary growth that China underwent from the 1980s onward was real, and yet in starting from such a low base, extraordinary growth was possible if even modest economic reforms were implemented.

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WNU Editor: I would not be quick to discount China. It has problems, but it also still growing and it has an educated population that is eager and determined to live a better life.