Editor’s note for Thursday, August 18, 2022
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
My thoughts today:
Earlier today, I joined my colleague Kaiser Kuo in an interview with Bloombergโs chief economist, Tom Orlik, about the outlook for China, and whether his 2020 book, China: The Bubble That Never Pops, still made sense in the era of COVID zero, real estate crises, and the lowest growth Beijing has had to deal with for decades. Youโll be able to hear the conversation on the Sinica Podcast next week.
One of the questions I asked was whether the Chinese governmentโs decision-making ability, after so many years of pragmatism, has ossified under Xรญ Jรฌnpรญng ไน ่ฟๅนณ. Has the personality cult Xi has created destroyed the Communist Partyโs responsiveness to changing social and economic realities, and so paralyzed Party cadres and government employees that they are unable to exercise any kind of judgment?
A piece of news today that provides some evidence for this view: Officials in the coastal city of Xiamen ordered fishing boats to swab all fish caught and test for COVID-19 before offloading. As many wags on the Chinese internet have pointed out, fish have no lungs, and cannot catch COVID.
In case you missed it: How companies are dealing with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a China Corner Office Podcast with Chris Marquis.
Our word of the day is jury (้ชๅฎกๅข pรฉishฤn tuรกn).
