Western reports on 'historic markets shift' politically biased

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"Wall Street snubs China for India in historic markets shift," reads the headline of an article that has been widely circulating among Western media outlets. "A momentous shift is under way in global markets as investors pull billions of dollars from China's sputtering economy," and much of that cash "is now heading for India," according to the article that was first published in Bloomberg.

Such pessimistic voices can never alter the resilience and potential of the Chinese economy.

In contrast to the Bloomberg article, the world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates performed exceptionally well in China last year against the backdrop of a global economic downturn and geopolitical tensions. The fund's local arm – Bridgewater China Investment Management – quadrupled its assets to more than 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) at the end of 2023 from two years ago, according to Financial Times.

Among major economies, China maintained the top position for growth last year, with its GDP expanding 5.2 percent year-on-year to 126.06 trillion yuan ($17.7 trillion). Official figures show the country's contribution to global GDP growth is estimated to reach over 30 percent in 2023, making it strongest growth engine in the world.

Admittedly, geopolitical tensions and the downward trend in global trade have, to some extent, exerted negative effects on the Chinese economy in the short term, but the country's long-term sound fundamentals remain unchanged.

Consumption, for instance, has turned out to be a significant driver of the Chinese economy. In 2023, final consumption contributed 82.5 percent of the country's overall GDP growth, reflecting the shift of Chinese economy from export-led growth to domestic demand-driven development. In January, as U.S. retail giant Costco opened its first store in Shenzhen, southern China, nearly 5,000 people poured into the store within an hour, according to Xinhua reports.

Hyping about the "gold rush" from China to India, the Bloomberg article is politically biased. By denigrating the Chinese economy through false narratives, Western doomsayers are seeking to trigger financial turmoil in the Chinese market and shake the international community's confidence in the country's economy. After all, the West is happy to see India act as an alternative to China – a country long regarded as a "threat" to the Western-led global order – in the global financial market.

It is worth noting that while the Bloomberg article bragged about investors' "bullish" sentiments about India, a long list of multinational firms including General Motors from the U.S. and Vodafone Group from Britain are quitting the Indian market. The Indian daily newspaper Deccan Herald is blatant about the obstacles multinational companies face in India: regulatory flip-flops, high tariff barriers, red tape, perplexing land policies, infrastructure issues and others tied to the ease of doing business.

That fact is enough to prove the political bias of the Bloomberg article. Driven by political considerations, many Western economists have failed in their predictions about China and the world's economy. "Many economists are actually a tribal clique… They don't go beyond that world because they feel comfortable in that world," Xinhua quoted European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde as saying.

By smearing the Chinese economy, certain Westerners are using finance and media as a weapon in geopolitical games. But their pessimistic voices richochet when confronted with the resilience and potential of the Chinese economy. Global investors have the wisdom to make the right choice.

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