economy – Is China a market economy?

 

No, says Arthur Kroeber, chief editor of the China Economic Quarterly in an article that is republished today in the Financial Times. “In early May, China's premier Wen Jiabao toured Europe and launched a charm offensive to get China recognised as  a "market economy" under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A number of normally sensible people in Europe have supported this proposition. It is very hard to understand why.”

Arthur is always good for a contrary point of view. “Government-approved academics in China have already started to trot out obfuscatory arguments designed to refute obvious objections to demands for market-economy status.”