“Reopening is not a decision that can be made overnight,” said Hong, a partner and chief economist at hedge fund Grow Investment Group. “It has to be through careful study and communication. That is why most of us think that after the Twin Sessions in March is a good time to reopen.”
The episode is an illustration of how difficult it is to obtain accurate information in the world’s second-biggest economy, where internal government deliberations and leadership changes are closely guarded secrets. That means big policy shifts can often leak out in unusual ways, even if they aren’t immediately verifiable.
China’s sharemarket have soared on the rumours, but Beijing has stayed quiet so far.Credit:AP
China has officially stayed mum on the rumours, with state media ignoring them the past two days. A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said they weren’t aware of the rumour during a regular press conference on Tuesday, and questions on the subject were scrubbed from the briefing’s official transcript.
On Wednesday, more rumours were afoot as the rally continued. Twitter user Shanghai Macro Strategist, who claims to be a China strategist and has more than 14,000 followers, posted screenshots purporting to be from two Chinese brokerages reporting upcoming changes to China’s COVID policies. The user declined to comment further in a message to Bloomberg News.
One screenshot showed Haitong Securities Co. saying a meeting would be held Friday to ease quarantine requirements and remove circuit breakers for flights, among other measures. The brokerage said the screenshot wasn’t true in an emailed reply to Bloomberg News.
The other screenshot cited three analysts from Tianfeng Securities Co. saying that virus controls would be loosened. When contacted by Bloomberg News, all three analysts said they weren’t aware of any information about COVID policy.
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Even as the Communist Party offers little transparency and severely restricts press freedom, officials in Beijing discouraged investors from reading too much into international media reports on China.
“A lot of media reports, let me put it this way, they really don’t understand China very well and they have a short-term focus,” Fang Xinghai, a vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said in prerecorded remarks to Hong Kong’s banking summit on Wednesday.
“I would advise the international investors to find out what’s really going on in China and what’s the real intention of our government by themselves.”
Bloomberg
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