Cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/11343608

To resuscitate the flailing economy, President Xi Jinping’s administration has introduced a slew of new initiatives in 2024, including measures to attract foreign investors and stimulate domestic consumption. But acting as a seemingly ever-present counterweight to China’s economic rise is a parallel set of ambitious policies by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meant to improve or protect Chinese society, which have in recent years tended to come with some undesired knock-on effects.

In a particularly embarrassing case, China’s attempt to crackdown on young people’s addiction to gaming last month fuelled speculations of impending curbs on China’s largest gaming companies and rattled the stock market so much that one day later, authorities hurriedly vowed to revise the draft regulations they had just introduced.

Ambitious goals like these, outlined by departments across the government to align with Xi’s vision of an ideal society, find themselves increasingly at odds with the government's push to revive China’s faltering economy.