Beware of China's political grandstanding on stimulus

Beijing's big ideas have not been followed by concrete actions. There are plausible explanations.

- Shuli Ren

China has been talking about stimulating its economy for almost three months - words that have mostly not been matched by deeds.

In late September, Beijing vowed to boost fiscal spending at a quarterly Politburo meeting traditionally reserved for discussing non-economic matters.

In reports emerging late on Dec 9 from the December gathering, the rhetoric was taken up a notch further. Top officials adopted dovish language on 2025's monetary policy and pledged to "stabilise property and stock markets", while the nation's residential real estate sector enters a fourth year of downturn.

These are seismic changes in messaging. The September meeting marked the first time top policymakers discussed economics since 2018, while the "moderately loose" monetary stance taken up this week is the government's first major shift since 2011. It's no surprise then that some foreign observers commented that China would finally bring the big guns out.