China cracks down on negativity over economy in bid to boost confidence
Source: The Guardian
China cracks down on negativity over economy in bid to boost confidence
Record high youth unemployment and struggling property sector are among increasingly sensitive topics
Amy Hawkins
@amyhawk_
Fri 29 Dec 2023 05.00 GMT
Last modified on Fri 29 Dec 2023 05.02 GMT
China is cracking down on negative commentary about the financial market and other sectors as the authorities seek to boost public confidence despite challenging economic headwinds.
This month the Weibo account Weibo Finance, which has more than 1.5 million followers, issued an instruction against posting any comments “that bad-mouth the economy”. The post appears to have since been deleted. Bloomberg reported that several other finance influencers had been told by Weibo to “avoid crossing red lines” and to post less about the economy. Weibo did not reply to a request for comment.
China’s ministry of state security published an article on 12 December saying there was a need to “sing the bright theory of China’s economy”.
In a separate WeChat post, the ministry said: “Various cliches intended to denigrate China’s economy continue to appear. Their essence is to use false narratives to construct a ‘discourse trap’ and ‘cognitive trap’ of China’s decline, in order to cast doubt on the system and path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
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Read more: https://archive.is/FDI68
Original Guardian link (registration required): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/29/china-cracks-down-on-negativity-over-economy-in-bid-to-boost-confidence