Investment Week (January 23)
“Chinese equities took a beating in the year of the tiger, with the collapse of the nation’s property market, stringent restrictions on some of its sectors and its zero-Covid policy all hampering investor interest.” In contrast, the year of the rabbit is beginning “in a remarkably different place…. Dynamics are now shifting in a favourable direction, benefiting Chinese stocks and global growth.” Nevertheless, “investment experts remain wary and advise caution.”
Tags: Caution, China, Collapse, Dynamics, Equities, Experts, Favourable, Growth, Investor, Property market, Rabbit, Restrictions, Stocks, Tiger, Zero COVID
New York Times (December 13)
With Zero-Covid restrictions lifted, Beijing again “looks like a city in the throes of a lockdown — this time, self-imposed by residents. Sidewalks and pedestrian shopping streets are barren, and once busy traffic thoroughfares are deserted. Residents are hunkering down indoors and hoarding medicine as a wave of Covid sweeps across the Chinese capital.”
Tags: Barren, Beijing, Deserted, Hoarding, Hunkering down, Lockdown, Medicine, Residents, Restrictions, Self-imposed, Shopping streets, Zero COVID
Washington Post (November 29)
“After so many months of insisting that the Communist Party and Mr. Xi know best — that rigid ‘zero covid’ is the only correct approach — changing course would imply they erred. China’s economy and its people’s health depend on whether this authoritarian system can respond to the voices of protest, ditch its own propaganda and show flexibility.”
Tags: Authoritarian system, Changing course, China, Communist party, Economy, Erred, Health, People, Propaganda, Protest, Rigid, Xi, Zero COVID
Wall Street Journal (November 25)
“China’s zero-Covid reckoning” is approaching as “record infections and new lockdowns lead to rising public frustration and slower economic growth.” China’s economy is expected to slow further, “with growth estimates falling for the fourth quarter and the year below 3%. That’s assuming Chinese officials aren’t gilding the books. China’s official GDP target for this year had been 5.5%.”
Tags: China, Economy, GDP, Infections, Lockdowns, Public frustration, Q4, Reckoning, Record, Slower economic growth, Zero COVID
WARC (August 1)
“Whether it’s $18 for a two-ounce ginseng drink or $75,000 for a luxury mattress, the story is the same: Chinese consumers are becoming more frugal and the days of carefree spending have gone.” For over a decade, upmarket western brands have relied on China’s “expanding middle class” to drive growth, “but now, with a slowing economy, growing unemployment and a disruptive zero-COVID policy, those same middle classes are as likely to be saving as spending.”
Tags: Carefree, China, Consumers, Frugal, Growth, Luxury, Middle class, Saving, Slowing Economy, Spending, Unemployment, Upmarket, Western brands, Zero COVID
South China Morning Post (May 18)
“A surge in the number of Chinese professionals looking for emigration opportunities in response to China’s strict zero-Covid measures could affect the country’s ambitions to become a science and technology superpower.” The “noticeable spike” in interest in leaving China began after “outbreaks of the Omicron variant emerged in Shanghai” around the end of May.
Tags: Ambitions, China, Emigration, Omicron, Opportunities, Outbreaks, Professionals, Science, Spike, Strict, Superpower, Surge, Technology, Variant, Zero COVID
CNN (April 25)
“Oil prices fell sharply Monday as lockdowns in China stoked concerns that the country’s zero-Covid strategy will sap energy demand in the world’s second-largest economy.” The concerns over China “could create one positive for consumers: They may ease pressure on prices at the pump.” On Monday, “US oil dropped as much as 6.7% to a two-week low of $95.28 a barrel.”
Tags: China, Concerns, Consumers, Demand, Ease, Energy, Lockdowns, Oil prices, Positive, Prices, Pump, Zero COVID
Wall Street Journal (April 14)
“Events in Hong Kong and Shanghai have demonstrated that a ‘zero Covid’ strategy can look very effective for a long time—until suddenly it isn’t, either because a more infectious variant changes the game or because success itself breeds overconfidence.” Unless the Chinese government moves “quickly to vaccinate and boost its elderly, and start spending much more heavily on hospital capacity, then the human and economic consequences could be disastrous.”
Tags: Boost, China, Consequences, Disastrous, Elderly, Events, Government, Hong Kong, Hospital capacity, Infectious, Overconfidence, Shanghai, Vaccinate, Variant, Zero COVID
South China Morning Post (February 17)
“Omicron has brought Hong Kong to its knees.” Things have gone “so horribly wrong” as the zero-Covid policy buckled. The health care system now teeters “on the brink of collapse.” Patients now “lie in beds outside hospitals and thousands more wait days for admission to isolation facilities.”
Tags: Admission, Collapse, Health-care system, Hong Kong, Horribly wrong, Hospitals, Isolation, Omicron, Patients, Zero COVID
Reuters (January 24)
Hong Kong’s “status as a global financial hub” is being threatened by its “zero COVID” policy and draconian immigration protocols. With no signs the government will ease restrictions, “more expats are thinking of leaving, and global banks, asset managers and corporate law firms are facing up to many of their staff exiting after annual bonuses are paid out in the first three months of the year.”
Tags: Asset managers, Banks, Draconian, Expats, Financial hub, Hong Kong, Immigration, Restrictions, Staff, Threatened, Zero COVID
