The visit to the US later this month by China’s President Xi Jinping comes at a politically sensitive time, with volatility in China’s markets — widely attributed to the effect of policy decisions — rippling globally. In our view, however, China deserves more credit than blame for its recent actions.
As China attempts to make the transition to a more open economy, two things are virtually inevitable: market volatility and difficult policy decisions, many of which need to be taken in the heat of the moment.
A case in point is the government intervention that followed the initial correction in the A shares market in July. This was widely interpreted outside China as a panicky reaction. But China’s share market is largely retail driven, and the need to maintain social harmony is of paramount importance to a single-party state. In light of this, the government’s response makes sense.