China’s Economic Slowdown Is the Price of Tackling Long-Term Risk

China’s Economic Slowdown Is the Price of Tackling Long-Term Risk
Workers assemble cars at the Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd factory in Wuhan, China, April 8, 2020 (AP photo by Ng Han Guan).

Editor’s Note: This is the web version of our subscriber-only weekly newsletter, China Note, which includes a look at the week’s top stories and best reads from and about China. Subscribe to receive it by email every Wednesday. If you’re already a subscriber, adjust your newsletter settings to receive it directly to your email inbox.

GDP data released Monday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics confirmed that the country’s economic recovery from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is losing steam. The Chinese economy grew by just 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2021, compared with the same quarter last year. Although some slowdown was expected, the slump was steeper than the bearish predictions by analysts, who have subsequently downgraded their overall forecasts in recent weeks. The third quarter figure was also a significant drop from the previous quarter’s 7.9 percent growth rate, to say nothing of the blistering 18.3 percent in the first quarter of this year. 

“The Chinese economy has maintained the recovery momentum in the first three quarters with progress in structural adjustment and high-quality development,” Fu Linghui, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Statistics, said at a press conference on Monday, putting a positive spin on the data. “China is capable of achieving its social and economic development goals for the whole year,” he stressed, adding that the country is still on track to meet its annual growth target of 6 percent.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review