Thinking About China
Opinion

Beijing Just Doesn’t Get Irony

The CCP decides to rebuild confidence among private businesses by building a special planning bureaucracy.
Beijing Just Doesn’t Get Irony
Two women wait below a giant screen showing news footage of Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaking virtually to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which was being held in India, at a shopping mall in Beijing on July 4, 2023. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Milton Ezrati
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Commentary

If it weren’t actually happening, it would make a good joke. But it is happening. After its heavy-handed direction destroyed confidence among private businesses and sapped the growth momentum of the economy, Beijing has decided to fix the problem with a new government body to coordinate across government agencies and set priorities for businesses.

Milton Ezrati
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is "Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live."
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