, Columnist
China Confronts Its Eternal Dilemma
With pressure building for major stimulus, leaders must decide whether boosting growth or controlling debt is more important.
Car sales were down 18 percent in November.
Photographer: Wang He/Getty Images
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China’s top leaders meet this week in Beijing to set economic policy objectives for the coming year. The central question is whether they will do what they want or what the country needs.
Clear evidence has emerged in the past couple of months that the Chinese economy is slowing to an uncomfortable degree. That’s raised expectations that the leadership will opt for significant stimulus at the Central Economic Work Conference, which Bloomberg News reported will be held from Dec. 19-21.