News Analysis
Beijing recently unveiled its unified domestic market system as residents in Shanghai face food shortages due to the regime’s strict COVID-19 lockdown measures. The latest economic plan has left the public wondering if it will lead to a major disaster reminiscent of the Mao Zedong era.
On April 10, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issued guidelines to accelerate building a unified market to “break local protectionism and market fragmentation” in order to promote a regulated, competitive, and open market across the country, according to Chinese state media.
After the guidelines were published, the Chinese stock market plunged to levels not seen since July 2020. On April 11, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.61 percent, the Shenzhen Component Index fell 3.67 percent, and the ChiNext Index fell 4.2 percent. Chinese media reported the public feared that the new market system signaled a return to the planned economy of the Mao era.
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