Alright folks, time to get into the Taiwan flag business 📈 . I have a feeling the market is about to grow, anyone invested in Ukraine flags still is a fool! 📉
Cold War Strategy. The West is yanking the economic rug out from under the CCP while forcing them to spend ever greater sums on their Military. They will eventually either implode from the external pressure or explode into War trying to beat it back.
It worked on the USSR and it will probably work on the CCP.
There is a big difference: the evil West actually created the conditions for and encouraged China's explosive development in the last 30 years with the expectation that with development and mutual dependence, they would become less autocratic. Instead, we got another Mao :/
As a response, This is the US going back to its neutral economic stance towards China: be suspicious and protectionist, same as China is towards other countries.
There are lots of other examples of this like China calling itself a developing country for certain purposes and benefitting from subsidised rates in shipping (subsidized by the evil West).
By every measure I'm aware of the Chinese Economy in 2023 is failing. FDI is down 90% YoY, Imports and Exports are down YoY, Youth Unemployment is unbelievably high, Real Estate market is collapsing, inbound tourism is down 90%, and companies are moving their manufacturing facilities out of the country.
The Pandemic surely had some to do with all of that but I'd point at the escalating Trade War with the "The West" as the primary cause. A Trade War that was specifically engineered to damage the Chinese Economy.