The Year of the Rat was looking promising for the Chinese economy at the Lunar New Year vacations Eve. When European and American economies were running out of steam, a first step in the conclusion of a trade agreement with the United States had been cleared and the risks of a tensions worsening were passing. 2019 growth  had over passed 6% and that was a result that would have made the whole world envious. December figures were even showing an accelerating trend. The sanitary catastrophe which occurred in January, when according to the tradition hundreds of millions of Chinese are ...

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On January 25^th China will celebrate the Lunar New Year which, following the zodiac symbols, will be put under the “Rat” symbol. It is arising better than the “Pig” year which has ended, not because the country economic achievements have been disappointing but because the threats which were weighting on the international environment are lessening. The agreement concluded with the U.S. would be honored by both parts, at least until the American presidential elections. Instability in the Middle East should not generate a new oil crisis and a sharp rebound of oil prices, due to the glut of ...

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China is at the front of the daily scene for months. Its economy is slowing, the trade negotiations feature with Washington is taking financial markets under tension, the political crisis in Hong Kong is generating lively critics from Western countries. But the place the country is now occupying on the international scene is just the consequence of its growing weight on the world economy.

The Hong Kong crisis is the result of the awkwardness of local authorities and of Beijing refusal to deplore them. The last Sunday elections represent a major disapproval for these authorities but they won’t have ...

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