China’s economic development “suffers from a serious lack of balance, co-ordination and sustainability”.
Those are not the words of an ultra-bearish hedge fund manager. They come from a speech delivered three weeks ago by Chinese President Hu Jintao and they show that the ruling Communist Party understands better than anyone the momentous challenges it faces in managing the world’s second-largest economy.
It is always strange to hear foreign analysts and fund managers who are far more bullish on China than the people who run it but with developed markets engulfed in various crises, the Chinese economy has become the great hope for much of the rest of the world.