Central Economic Work Conference; Progress vs stability; PRC-Philippines standoffs; Fentanyl
Summary of today’s Essential Eight:
Central Economic Work Conference - Reuters reports that the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) started Monday and will conclude Tuesday. The readout from the Friday Politburo meeting has many hoping that a shift is underway to more “progress”. As Caixin noted in an article on the meeting-“China’s Politburo urged efforts to ‘pursue progress while ensuring stability” and “consolidate stability through progress’…It’s the first time that the Politburo, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body, has mentioned the latter phrase, with the reference to stability — which has been repeatedly emphasized over the past few years — taking a backseat to progress.” Exactly what “progress” means remains unclear, but I still doubt it means “massive stimulus”. More likely it means doing more to keep the wheels from falling off while trying to upgrade the development model, including more support for real estate and measures to deal with the debt crises. Inter…