SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Media Say ... Gloom And Doom In China

moon of alabama

The New York Times, and other western media, are running a 'doom and gloom in Xi's economy' campaign.

The latest entry is this piece:

China’s Economic Pain Is a Test of Xi’s Fixation With Control

The core claim is this:

Consumers are gloomy. Private investment is sluggish. A big property firm is near collapse. Local governments face crippling debt. Youth unemployment has continued to rise. The economic setbacks are eroding Mr. Xi’s image of imperious command, and emerging as perhaps the most sustained and thorny challenge to his agenda in over a decade in power.

But lets look at the sources the author quotes to make up 'evidence' for his claims:

Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis, said in an interview
Some experts say ...
not all observers believe that China’s economy is in a sharp downward spiral. But ...
Chinese internet users circulated an essay by a retired Hong Kong businessman, Lew Mon-hung ...
Liu Shijin, a retired senior Chinese government economist, said ...
said Alicia García Herrero, the chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis
said Bert Hofman, director of the East Asian Institute at National University of Singapore
said Ms. García Herrero, the economist
Some Chinese economists and former officials have warned
Lou Jiwei, a former minister of finance said in a recent video interview with Caixin

The author of the gloom and doom piece is:

Chris Buckley, the Times’s chief correspondent in China, where he has lived for most of the past 30 years

If Chris Buckley lives in China why doesn't he quote even one person who is really involved in China's economy or policy making? Isn't there any active Chinese politician or Chinese CEO or Chinese economist or Chinese worker he could quote?

Why is he quoting an Asia Society fellow?

Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with major centers and public buildings in New York, Hong Kong, and Houston, and additional locations in Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New Delhi, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Zurich.

Why is he mentioning the disgraced Lew Mon-hung?

In 2016, he was found guilty and imprisoned after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice by asking Leung, in letters and emails, to stop the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from investigating him.

Why is he quoting the Vice-something professor of this or that Liu Shijin?

Former Vice-President (Vice-Minister), Development Research Center. Currently, Vice-Chairman, China Development Research Foundation.

Why Bert Hofman, the Dutch 'expert' of the EU financed Mercator lobby?

Why ask a Spanish 'economist' from a French investment bank?

Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of Natexis Banques Populaires (Banque Populaire group) and IXIS (Groupe Caisse d'Epargne).
Natixis provides financial data for the 'Markets' section on the news channel, Euronews. On October 26, 2010, Natixis Investment Managers (NIM) has acquired a majority stake in asset management start-up ‘Ossiam’.

Why use some other outlets interview with the retired Lou Jiwei without giving this (2019) context?:

Lou Jiwei, who has long been seen as a liberalizing force in China, an advocate of market reform and international openness. He served as finance minister, ran the country’s massive sovereign wealth fund, and has palled around with western economists since the 1980s. But recently he made a prediction that contained a startling phrase: At a forum in Beijing, according to reporting in the South China Morning Post, he said: “The next step in the frictions between China and the United States is a financial war (jinrong zhan). The U.S. has been hijacked by nationalism and populism, so will do everything in its power to use bullying measures [and] long-arm jurisdiction.”
In this financial war, he continued, the U.S. will exploit its dominance of the international financial system to hurt China—and China will fight back.

Now back to what matters:

Godfree Roberts @GodfreeTrh - 11:17 UTC · Sep 3, 2023
REALITY: Only four economies have ever grown by $1.5 trillion in a year, and 2023 will see the fifth. All five boom years are Chinese, of course. Its economy is booming and so are wages: 4.7% nominal rise last year, 4.2% after inflation. Bwahahah.
FT: China’s economic slowdown reverberates across Asia https://ft.com/content/...