** 26-May-2022 World View: China's premier warns that economy is at a 'critical point'
A number of analysts have been warning recently that China's economy
is in difficulty. Most of the blame has been attributed to Xi
Jinping's "Zero Covid" policy, which has become a huge ego issue,
because it has been failing recently, and threatens Xi's Mandate from
Heaven. Shanghai, which is China's manufacturing center, was totally
shutdown (in lockdown) for months, crippling manufacture and exports.
Shanghai still is in serious distress, although the Covid rate has
apparently peaked and is beginning to come down.
However, it's turning into a whack-a-mole situation. Covid
in Shanghai crippled China's manufacturing, but now Covid is
increasing in Beijing, threatening to cripple China's commerce
and politics.
So in this context, China's Premier Li Keqiang held an extraordinary
nationwide videoconference, in which he made some extraordinary
warnings about the state of the economy, saying that it was at a
"critical point," and that government officials at all levels --
provincial, city-level, county-level and local level -- must all have
"a stronger sense of urgency to ensure that the policies and measures
determined by the Central Economic Work Conference and the 'Government
Work Report' are basically implemented."
The following is an excerpted machine translation of the
article in Chinese media news.cn:
> "Li Keqiang said that since the beginning of this
> year, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee
> with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, all aspects have implemented
> the deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council,
> and vigorously responded to difficulties and challenges,
> especially the impact of unexpected factors, and have done a lot
> of effective work. However, in March, especially since April,
> indicators such as employment, industrial production, electricity
> consumption and freight have fallen significantly, and the
> difficulties are greater in some aspects and to a certain extent
> than when the epidemic was severely impacted in 2020. Development
> is the foundation and key to solving all problems in our
> country. Doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control
> requires financial and material resources, and ensuring
> employment, people's livelihood, and risk prevention all require
> the support of development. We are currently at a critical
> juncture in determining the economic trend of the whole year. We
> must seize the time window and strive to bring the economy back to
> the normal track. ...
> Li Keqiang said that all departments have responsibilities before
> stabilizing the overall economic situation, and they must have a
> stronger sense of urgency to ensure that the policies and measures
> determined by the Central Economic Work Conference and the
> "Government Work Report" are basically implemented in the first
> half of the year."
-- Li Keqiang / China holds an unprecedented massive videoconference
on the economy
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/26/china-h ... onomy.html
(CNBC, 26-May-2022)
-- [Chinese] Li Keqiang emphasized at the national teleconference
on stabilizing the economy ...
http://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/202 ... 684127.htm
(News.cn, 26-May-2022)