Power in China is very decentralised, says McMahon party officials have a lot of ability to "selectively implement or to block reform". Beijing is powerful enough to paper over a lot of cracks, but that's not the same as stopping them forming through real reform. The problem is that "economies do not work like that". The rationale behind the idea that China is different comes down to the feeling that "Beijing is so big and so powerful" that it can fix anything. Heaven is high and the emperor is far awayīut just because China needs growth does not mean it will get it. And at the top, if Xi Jinping wants to deliver the "national rejuvenation" he has promised, growth it is an absolute imperative. Those at state-owned enterprises have been judged by how fast they grow the companies they run. At local government level, officials have long been judged by their ability to grow the economy. The problem, says McMahon, is not that China doesn't want to pull back, but that it can't: the need for GDP growth is "hard baked" into the political system. That stimulus never really stopped by the end of 2016, China's debt-to-GDP ratio had hit 260% (up from 160% in 2008).
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