It’s birthrate is falling….
It’s still dealing with Covid….
It’s economy is in decline…..
They have a LOT to worry about than messing with Taiwan…..
After years of slowing growth, China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in 60 years — officially declining by 850,000 people to a new total of 1.4118 billion. The last time China faced population decline was in 1961, three years into a devastating famine in the Mao era. The decline was driven by a shrinking birthrate, which according to official records, dropped to its lowest level on record last year…..
The Chinese economy had one of its worst performances in decades last year as growth was dragged down by numerous Covid lockdowns followed by a deadly outbreak in December that swept across the country with remarkable speed.
China grew 3 percent for the year, numbers released Tuesday show, much less than in 2021 and short of Beijing’s target of 5.5 percent. Other than 2020, it was the most disappointing showing since 1976, the year Mao Zedong died, when the economy declined 1.6 percent.
The government’s strict “zero Covid” restrictions cast a pall over 2022, strangling the economy with frequent quarantines, regional lockdowns and massive spending to pay for widespread testing. Then on Dec. 7, China lifted the policy without warning after nearly three years. Within weeks, the virus had infected hundreds of millions of people, killed many older residents and left factories, offices and restaurants bereft of workers and customers.
The policy reversal by Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, has sparked hope that the economy will regain its footing this spring. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, a senior government official, Liu He, predicted that “the Chinese economy will make a significant turnaround in 2023.”….