Chinese economic crises (2020–present)

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A series of economic crises have affected China since the country enacted its zero-COVID policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contents

Background

COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China

In December 2019, the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was reported in Wuhan. [1] The outbreak in January 2020 was the impetus for a broader pandemic; the World Health Organization formally declared a pandemic on 11 March. [2] In response, Xi Jinping's administration pursued a zero-COVID policy. On 23 January, amid a rising death toll, the Chinese government imposed a travel lockdown on Wuhan, confining citizens within the city. [3] In March, nearly all foreigners were barred from entering the country. [4]

Crises

Property sector crisis

In August 2020, the Chinese government enacted new regulations on the amount of debt property developers can incur. The new regulations affected Evergrande Group, China's second-largest property developer, and the Chinese real estate market as a whole. [5] In addition, the Chinese shadow banks, such as Sichuan Trust, have been greatly effected by the property sector crisis due to over lending and a crackdown on regulations. [6] [7]

Debt crisis

Financing affiliates in local governments—who depend upon the vitality of the real estate market—responded to the property sector crisis by borrowing the land that developers can no longer afford. The excess borrowing has created a debt crisis; China has lent nearly US$1 trillion to over a hundred developing countries. [8]

Youth unemployment

Since January 2023, the unemployment rate among young people in China has risen.

Stock market turbulence

The CSI 300 index, which contains the largest and most liquid Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks, shedding more than 6% in January, 2024. [9]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic</span> Pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2


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<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 lockdown in China</span> Chinese quarantine effort in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 recession</span> Economic downturn, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic</span>

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The COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. It was confirmed to have spread to Southeast Asia on 13 January 2020, when a 61-year-old woman from Wuhan tested positive in Thailand, making it the first country other than China to report a case. The first death occurred on 2 February, involving a 44-year-old Chinese man in the Philippines, also the first outside China. By 24 March, all states in the region had announced at least one case.

Zhang Zhan is a Chinese citizen journalist and former lawyer who travelled to Wuhan in February 2020, from where she reported on the impact of the lockdown measures imposed in the city in response to the COVID-19 outbreak there, and questioned the handling of the crisis by authorities. She was detained in May 2020, and was later tortured and sentenced in December 2020 to four years imprisonment on the charges of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" (寻衅滋事). She is the first citizen journalist to be sentenced for reporting on the pandemic in China, although at least ten journalists and commentators were known to have been arrested for their coronavirus reporting as of February 2021, with seven remaining missing or detained as of that date. Chen Qiushi reappeared in September 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhang Yongzhen</span> Chinese virologist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese property sector crisis (2020–present)</span> Financial crisis

The Chinese property sector crisis is a current financial crisis sparked by the 2021 default of Evergrande Group. Evergrande, and other Chinese property developers, experienced financial stress in the wake of overbuilding and subsequent new Chinese regulations on these companies' debt limits. The crisis spread beyond Evergrande in 2021 to such major property developers as Country Garden, Kaisa Group, Fantasia Holdings, Sunac, Sinic Holdings, and Modern Land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese government response to COVID-19</span>

During the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, the government of China under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's administration pursued a zero-COVID strategy to prevent the domestic spread of COVID-19 until December 7, 2022. Aspects of the response have been controversial, with the zero-COVID approach being praised and the government's lack of transparency, censorship, and spread of misinformation being criticized. The government abandoned its zero-COVID policy on 7 December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zero-COVID</span> COVID-19 elimination strategy

Zero-COVID, also known as COVID-Zero and "Find, Test, Trace, Isolate, and Support" (FTTIS), was a public health policy implemented by some countries, especially China, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast to the "living with COVID-19" strategy, the zero-COVID strategy was purportedly one "of control and maximum suppression". Public health measures used to implement the strategy included as contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, lockdowns, and mitigation software in order to stop community transmission of COVID-19 as soon as it was detected. The goal of the strategy was to get the area back to zero new infections and resume normal economic and social activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China</span>

The 2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China was the first COVID-19 outbreak in that country, and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak of the disease, the first to impose drastic measures in response, and one of the first countries to bring the outbreak under control.

2020s commercial real estate distress was a worldwide spike in commercial real estate distress that began in the 2020s in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and interest rates hikes by central banks in response to the 2021 inflation crisis. Although the increase in distress occurred globally it was most acute in the United States and China.

References

  1. Wee, Sui-Lee; McNeil Jr., Donald (8 January 2020). "China Identifies New Virus Causing Pneumonialike Illness". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  2. "Coronavirus confirmed as pandemic by World Health Organization". BBC News. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  3. Buckley, Chris; Hernández, Javier (23 January 2020). "China Expands Virus Lockdown, Encircling 35 Million". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  4. Bradsher, Keith (26 March 2020). "To Slow Virus, China Bars Entry by Almost All Foreigners". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  5. Moreno, J. Edward (21 August 2023). "What to Know About China's Real Estate Crisis". The New York Times . Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  6. "What are shadow banks and why are they failing in China?". euronews. 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  7. Hawkins, Amy; correspondent, Amy Hawkins Senior China (2024-02-18). "'It's legalised robbery': anger grows at China's struggling shadow banks". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  8. Bradsher, Keith (8 July 2023). "Why China Has a Giant Pile of Debt". The New York Times . Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  9. Leng, Cheng; Lockett, Hudson (2024-02-07). "China stock trading surges after Beijing unveils more state-led buying". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-02-09.