Next China: It's the Economy, Maybe

China is so preoccupied with the Communist Party congress that everything else is taking a backseat — including the economy.

The government surprisingly postponed the release of major economic data this week, including GDP figures. Though authorities didn’t provide a reason for the delay, it appears to be related to the all-important, twice-a-decade event.

Trade data weren’t released late last week because the top officials who physically needed to sign off on the data were at the congress and had their movements restricted, according to a person familiar with the matter. Those rules are likely behind this week’s delay, too.

In another sign that Covid Zero policy and politics rule the day in China nowadays, President Xi Jinping mentioned “security” 91 times in his report to the Communist Party on Sunday. “Economy” appeared 60 times — the first time it was eclipsed by security issues in the policy statement since the party took power in 1949.

He did stick with tradition by saying that economic development remains the party’s top priority, but he spent much of his speech warning about the volatile international environment and urged his comrades to brace themselves for “dangerous storms.”