How Serious Are China’s Economic Woes?
Experts assess the country’s faltering economy.
Despite China’s poor economic performance in recent months, “there’s little doubt that China’s rise over the last four decades is unprecedented and astonishing,” FP’s Ravi Agrawal wrote in July. “But is China’s malaise right now more than just a bump along the road?”
Despite China’s poor economic performance in recent months, “there’s little doubt that China’s rise over the last four decades is unprecedented and astonishing,” FP’s Ravi Agrawal wrote in July. “But is China’s malaise right now more than just a bump along the road?”
The essays and debates below offer some answers to that question, with expert assessments of China’s economic slowdown and what it might portend for the country’s future.—Chloe Hadavas
People walk past an Apple retail store at a shopping mall in Beijing on Aug. 18.JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images
Beijing Needs to Junk Its Economic Playbook
Government stimulus and greater exports can’t dig China’s economy out of a deep hole, FP’s Zongyuan Zoe Liu writes.
Chinese students queue to take the National College Entrance Examination at a high school in Beijing on July 7, 2020.Kevin Frayer/AFP via Getty Images
Has China Peaked?
FP’s Ravi Agrawal hosts a debate on whether Beijing’s economic woes are temporary or terminal.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang shake hands ahead of a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on June 18. Leah Millis/AFP/Pool via Getty Images
Here’s How Scared of China You Should Be
It all depends on the answers to these five questions, FP’s Stephen M. Walt writes.
Older Chinese residents serve themselves food during a meal at the Ji Xiang temple and nursing home in China’s Fujian province on March 17, 2016. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
China’s Pensions System Is Buckling Under an Aging Population
Beijing faces hard choices ahead as labor advantages slip away, FP’s Zongyuan Zoe Liu writes.
Chinese President Xi Jinping walks past an honor guard of People’s Liberation Army sailors at the Great Hall of People in Beijing on Sept. 16, 2013. Feng Li/Getty Images
Xi Jinping Is Trying to Adapt to Failure
China is in a far worse position than when he took office, Neil Thomas writes.
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