Disappeared Comments: China's Strict Handling of Critical Voices on the Economy

In recent days, the sudden removal of a much-discussed commentary by Gao Shanwen, the chief economist of SDIC Securities, which addressed China's weak consumption figures, high unemployment, and the "discouraged" youth, has caused a stir. This incident occurs shortly before an important meeting of the Chinese leadership, where the economic goals for the year 2025 are to be set. China's economy is grappling with various challenges this year. A persistent real estate crisis, high local government debt, and weak consumption figures are weighing on the economy. These difficulties have prompted Beijing to undertake various measures to stimulate the economy. Gao explained that high unemployment among young people is stifling consumption, while spending by the older generation has not been growing since the pandemic. According to a record of his speech, he described at an exclusive investors' conference that the younger the population of a province is, the weaker the consumption growth. His statements, which also included a possible overestimation of China's GDP growth by ten percentage points between 2021 and 2023, were widely circulated on social media but later blocked. This development is reminiscent of a similar incident with Fu Peng, the chief economist of Northeast Securities. Fu also voiced criticism of the consumption decline in connection with falling property prices, which also led to the blocking of his social media access. Amid these events, the Cyberspace Administration of China is conducting a campaign to better regulate online news to correct illegal behavior on the internet. Ahead of the upcoming annual economic meeting, the People's Daily emphasized that China is not committed to specific GDP growth rates and that a growth rate below 5% would be acceptable.