China's lean, clean and green road to growth: Year of the Ox will not be like the Year of the Rat

Vaccine, new tech and US relations spring optimism

It was tragically apt that last year was the Year of the Rat as Covid-19 spread from China around the world.

While China was the first country to experience lockdowns, the country controlled the virus effectively and brought the economy back to growth in the second quarter and was the only major economy to expand in 2020.   The Chinese economy is now growing at a similar rate to that before the virus and life has largely returned to normal in much of the country. Industrial activity has fully recovered and retail sales growth moved into positive territory last August. This is in stark contrast to many other nations, which still sit under nationwide lockdowns and are yet to face the tough ...