China has already lost in the trade war with the U.S. Although you will never hear Chinese authorities, especially President Xi Jinping, admit it as such, the evidence is everywhere and only becoming more compelling by the day.
Reuters recently reported that based on the Chinese government’s own data, China’s economic slowdown has worsened in August, with “growth in industrial production is at its weakest in 17-1/2 years amid spreading pain from a trade war with the United States and softening domestic demand. Retail sales and investment gauges worsened too.” Despite such poor readings, Premier Li Keqiang insists that China is still on track to achieve 6 to 6.5 per cent growth rate this year.
Given the Chinese government’s tendency to present a rosier economic picture to satisfy political goals, most China watchers believe that Li’s statement was an about-face, and that the actual economic situation is much worse.
Researchers at the Brookings Institute estimated that China had inflated its GDP growth rate by close to 2 percent every year between 2008-2016. So in reality, China hasn’t seen a 6 percent growth rate for nearly a decade (someone should send a copy of this to Premier Li). Moreover, the actual size of the Chinese economy was an estimated $10.9 trillion, 18 percent lower than the officially stated $13.4 trillion, as of 2018.
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See Also:
(1) China trade flow via Hong Kong declines as city set to report worst exports in a decade
