Chinese Premier: Economic Crisis “Worse Than Expected”

A woman stands amongst a huge pile of used plastic bottles at a plastics recycling mill which is ceasing production as the global financial crisis starts to bite in China's recycling industry on October 29, 2008 in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)

Top officials of the Chinese Communist regime finally admitted what many in China have known for a while now—that the economic crisis in China is taking a severe toll.

Premier Wen Jiabao has been quoted in several media reports as saying that the current financial crisis is “worse than expected.” The state-run China Daily quoted Wen as saying this in a demoralizing assestment that was given to government officials and staff at a Tuesday briefing.

Just days ago, the regime had announced a $586 billion stimulus package to revive the economy.

The regime announced growth rates of 11.9% last year and 9% this year. However, economic experts are divided as to the validity of the numbers, since there is no independent way to measure economic growth in China, and local officials frequently inflate numbers in order to please their higher-ups.

The Communist regime’s biggest fear seems to be that such a massive economic downturn will produce “social instability.”

The number of protests all across China has increased dramatically in the last couple of years. In wake of the economic crisis and the shutting down of factories and loss of jobs, the number of protests has swelled.

Guanddong Province’s governor recently announced that orders have fallen sharply and that many companies and factories have been shutdown, leaving thousands of workers without jobs. Guangdong is one of China’s manufacturing hubs.