המשטר בסין הפסיק לפרסם בשנים האחרונות מספר נתונים כלכליים ודמוגרפיים חשובים

Data is a vital factor in today's world. Be it China, a major player has decided to hide some critical information and it means policymakers and investors outside of China will struggle to understand the real situation in the country. What information has the country stopped releasing and what's driving the change? NTD's Flora Hua has the story. A Wall Street Journal analysis recently called out Beijing for suspending hundreds of statistics. Here's how it started. Last April, two major stock exchanges, Shanghai and Shenzhen, decided to stop releasing data on the real-time inflow and outflow of foreign investors. That's after foreign investors sold off over $2 billion worth of Chinese stocks within two weeks. Two major data sources from the property market were also shut down by the regime in 2022 after both saw steep declines. China's real estate crisis has wiped out billions of dollars from Chinese families in recent years. As for other numbers, China's unemployment data also went dark. In 2023, Beijing suddenly stopped releasing the youth unemployment rate after it neared 15 percent, a historic high. However, many economists have raised doubts due to Beijing's censorship, saying the true figure could top 40 percent. Jiang Dandan, a prominent economist from one of China's top schools, Peking University, also supports the calculation. Beijing also stopped disclosing how many people in urban areas are receiving unemployment aid. Turning to some demographic data, analysis argued China's official death toll during the COVID-19 pandemic was only a fraction of the true number. Based on NTD's research and expert analysis, China's COVID-19-related deaths may exceed 100 million. Official decisions also played into speculation. China stopped releasing data on cremated bodies in late 2022. Cremation is a country's most common method for managing human remains. What's more, the same way Japan studies domestic salt consumption, soy sauce, an essential ingredient in Chinese cuisine, could also reflect population changes. China stopped updating its soy sauce production data in mid-2021, when the pandemic surged across China. There's also another factor. Challenging the regime's grasp on data could mean harsh retribution for both Chinese citizens and foreign groups. Several well-known Chinese economists have been forced to leave their posts or have faced censorship because they raise doubts over China's GDP data. Others cited concerns over Beijing's recent retaliation against U.S. tariffs. In 2023, Beijing launched a broad clampdown on foreign due diligence firms, sending Chinese authorities to raid the offices of three U.S. consultancy firms in China. As justification, the regime cited concerns about sensitive data linked to China's national security. Zooming out, looking at unconventional data markers could more accurately reflect the real situation inside China. For the rest of the world, working with China without access to critical statistics presents a major challenge. Flora Hua, NTD News.