Commentary
Wall Street Journal

China’s Economy Hits the Skids

What happens next isn’t clear but the era of torrid growth is likely over.

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Walter Russell Mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
Walter Russell Mead
A worker produces high-voltage silicon stack devices at a semiconductor manufacturing enterprise in Shandong, China, on July 17, 2023. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
A worker produces high-voltage silicon stack devices at a semiconductor manufacturing enterprise in Shandong, China, on July 17, 2023. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

The bad economic news from China keeps coming. Exports  in June. Between 2012 and 2022 China added  more to its debt load than the U.S.  is at record levels, even as manufacturers report . The  at the heart of China’s long boom look increasingly vulnerable, and  who have long relied on a red-hot real estate market for revenue are turning to Beijing with .

Some look at the troubling statistics and predict that China is headed for a catastrophic market bust. Such forecasts, for now, seem premature. The central government still has a lot of money to throw at its problems, and the increasingly totalitarian state that China is becoming has many policy tools at its disposal.

Global Economy