Thinking About China
Opinion

How Dire Is the Situation of Chinese Banks?

How Dire Is the Situation of Chinese Banks?
People walk past the China Construction Bank booth at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2021. Florence Lo/Reuters
Christopher Balding
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Commentary

Lost amid all the different announcements of stimulus and busy work made to appear like stimulus is the regularity with which Chinese officials announce the funding of bank recapitalizations. Beijing rolled out small programs to boost consumption and help local governments start investing again, but the biggest funding items prop up bad banks.

Christopher Balding
Christopher Balding
Author
Christopher Balding was a professor at the Fulbright University Vietnam and the HSBC Business School of Peking University Graduate School. He specializes in the Chinese economy, financial markets, and technology. A senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, he lived in China and Vietnam for more than a decade before relocating to the United States.