Hong Kong; US-China; India-China border tensions; Hangzhou official confirms drinking baijiu is unhealthy

As expected, Li Keqiang did not announce a GDP target for 2020. That move, long called for by those pushing for more economic reforms, may be good for those desired reforms, but we will not know if this is a permanent shift until next year’s NPC, or rather just a one-time move forced on the policymakers by the pandemic that has so pressured China’s economy.

I read Li’s comments about fiscal and monetary policy as effectively signaling, unsurprisingly, that China will increase fiscal and monetary stimulus as much as needed to keep things on track this year, but in a much more measured way than they did during the kleptocrat’s dream of the 2008-09 stimulus.

Things are tough, as Xi Jinping noted in a very grim assessment of the external environment in a meeting with CCPCC economic advisors:

我们还要面对世界经济深度衰退、国际贸易和投资大幅萎缩、国际金融市场动荡、国际交往受限、经济全球化遭遇逆流、一些国家保护主义和单边主义盛行、地缘政治风险上升等不利局面，必须在一个更加不稳定不确定的世界中谋求我国发展。

We must also face the unfavorable situation of a deep recession in the world economy, a sharp c…