Since the official GDP announcement in January, there has been growing skepticism of Beijing’s reports of a robust expansion.
China ended a three-decade tradition when it announced on March 4 that Premier Li Qiang would not hold a press conference at the conclusion of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. Moreover, the NPC, as the central government’s rubber-stamp legislative body is known, stated there will be no post-meeting pressers through 2027. The widely televised event, during which premiers would take questions from both domestic and foreign media, has been a highlight of the Chinese political calendar since 1993.
The surprise move comes at a time of disturbing news about both China militancy in its peripheral seas and hints that the Chinese regime is tearing itself apart.
China’s leaders are now reacting to a rapidly deteriorating situation. The economy, the motor of the country’s half-century rise, is failing. Gross domestic product did not increase 5.2 percent last year, as the National Bureau of Statistics officially reported. Growth—if indeed there was any—was about 1.5 percent, as the Rhodium Group estimated.
Since the official GDP announcement in January, there has been growing skepticism of Beijing’s reports of a robust expansion. China is plagued with symptoms of a sinking economy: deepening deflation, crumbling property prices, continuing debt defaults, a weakening currency, accelerating capital flight, and failing local governments. Falling population—the number of people peaked in 2021—does not help.
The regime says it is relying on “new productive forces,” in other words, high-tech businesses, to lead to an economic transformation. And it’s true there are “islands of excellence,” as observers call them, but by themselves they cannot rescue an economy plagued by deep structural problems.
