With inflation stubbornly high and the government trying to work down its debts, China cannot afford another superhero stimulus like the Rmb4,000bn package that helped rescue the world from despair in 2008.
Instead Beijing is showing unexpected resolve in its campaign to cool the once-sizzling property market, (potentially) China’s economic kryptonite.
The importance of the Chinese property sector cannot be overstated. Property construction directly accounts for nearly 15 per cent of China’s gross domestic product and drives its demand for commodities, especially iron ore and copper. Jonathan Anderson, an economist with UBS, has called Chinese property “the single most important sector in the entire global economy”.