There are far fewer travelers - especially international visitors. Airports are nearly empty, unlike nearby Asian countries. The Chinese government did that to themselves with their ridiculously excessive COVID restrictions. Now those are completely lifted, but the damage is done.
Much of their current domestic business problems as mentioned in the article are due to Xi and his people thinking China was ready to function as an autarky in the wake of COVID. It clearly was not. International business pulled away strongly and now China is trying hard to woo them back again. They will eventually return, simply because the West worships Gaia and remains so hostile to manufacturing. But it will take time. In the meantime, a lot of low-quality Chinese factories and industries have closed permanently - just as many weaker businesses and restaurants in the US failed.
China remains, visibly, a very young country. I saw few people over 30. Talk of demographic decline is decades out and will have no real effect on the present nor on the major urban centers. Rural and girl-free farm villages are aging out of existence - but the larger cities will remain young and vibrant. This is by design.
Nobody talks about Taiwan. Nobody cares about Taiwan, other than Xi's people who try to keep domestic political supporters fired up. Nobody hates the USA, either. More than one told me they thought the USA and China should be great friends and allies, going forward.
Xi isn't going to live forever, so US diplomacy should be focused on solidifying relationships with and among China's neighbors and encouraging the redevelopment of trade with the next generation of Chinese leaders on more fair terms - not just signing quick deals to reward the Hunter Bidens of the world regardless of the eventual fallout. The Biden Administration clearly is not capable of this, but the return of a Trump Administration could look past Xi and work toward rebuilding a better bilateral relationship.
Thanks for your perspective. Good information.
Interesting...thx for posting
Much of that manufacturing should be moving to Mexico. That way they can take advantage of cheaper labor and NAFTA at the same time.
Peter Zeihan has been talking about the demise of China for years now. The Chinese admitted that their population has dropped by 100 MILLION people. From 1.5 BB to 1.4 BB. I am sure it was just a rounding error. (s)
I wish I had listened to him back in 2020 when I bought Matthews China Fund. It is down significantly(less than half) of what it was worth when I bought it in November 2020. It did go up for about a year and has cratered since then. It appears to have bottomed out finally. At close to a third of my investment.
Your thoughtful post and insightful observations about China spurred me to want to check your bio.
What a great collection of quotes! I read them all - there wasn’t one I disagreed with.
And they are as relevant today as when first spoken. Human nature doesn’t change, just like, as Rush used to say, leopards spots don’t change.