China is under immense pressure due to a slowing economy, government corruption and public discontent, which, combined with a high unemployment rate, have given rise to increasing pessimism of young people, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday.
The report, submitted to the Legislative Yuan, offers an insight into the economic situation of China, which is engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war with the US.
The World Bank, the IMF and other international institutions have downgraded their economic growth forecasts for China to between 4 and 4.6 percent, lower than the Chinese government’s official target of 5 percent, the report said.
Photo: AFP
The Chinese economy is grappling with surplus production, the risk of deflation, and slowing investment and consumption, the institutions said.
Workers face either reduced wages or are not paid at all, with the problem expanding from farmers and industrial workers to public servants, medical personnel and financial personnel, the report said.
At least 75 percent of the approximately 3,000 civic protests last year were due to public perception that their economic rights have been infringed upon, it said.
In addition, high unemployment rates have led to increasing pessimism among the younger generation, many of whom opt to put minimum efforts into their work and avoid overachieving, the report said.
Young Chinese are seeking other means to let off steam, such as donning costumes at Halloween parties that are critical of politics and the times, increasing socioeconomic risks, the report said.
Local governments in China, affected by the overall economic slump, are resorting to arresting private enterprise owners, freezing or confiscating the assets of corporations beyond their juridisctions to generate income, thereby eroding public trust in the government and affecting businesses’ inclination to invest, it said.
While Beijing’s investigations of 890,000 public officials, including 73 provincial-level officials, suspected of corruption mark a historic high since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took office, the crackdown has unnerved public officials, who are reluctant to perform duties beyond the bare minimum, resulting in reduced administrative efficiency, the report said.
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