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The news coming out of China’s economy continues to be a very mixed bag. Officially the country met its 5% growth target last year, but Evergrande is on the verge of liquidation, the stock market is down, foreign investment is down and the PMI numbers for January also show factory activity is still contracting.
China’s manufacturing activity contracted for the fourth straight month in January, an official factory survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting the sprawling sector was struggling to regain momentum at the start of 2024.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 49.2 in January from 49.0 in December, below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction and was in line with a median forecast of 49.2 in a Reuters poll.
So what do you do if you’re a one-party state and the news has a negative edge? You censor it of course. That’s precisely what China has been doing.
In a series of posts on its official WeChat account, the Ministry of State Security implored citizens to grasp President Xi Jinping’s economic vision and not be swayed by those who sought to “denigrate China’s economy” through “false narratives.” To combat this risk, the ministry said, security agencies will focus on “strengthening economic propaganda and public opinion guidance.”…
Over the last year, China has targeted consulting and advisory firms with foreign ties through raids, detainments and arrests. These firms, which helped businesses assess investments in the country, have become collateral damage in Mr. Xi’s drive to bolster national security. Such efforts to curb the flow of information, curtail the release of unfavorable economic data and limit critical financial discourse seem to only deepen the concerns of investors and foreign businesses about the true state of China’s economy.
