Commentary Earlier this month, Liu He, China’s vice premier for economic affairs, stepped up to offer some nebulous assurances of “reforms” to try to reverse what had been an earlier rout in Chinese equities. Western investors bought the messaging, and the markets recovered, but Liu’s assurances are illusory. Liu’s intervention was necessitated by what Bloomberg called “panic selling” on March 13. On that day, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index closed down 7 percent, its biggest drop since November 2008. The new Hang Seng Tech Index, started in 2020, fell 11 percent. The sharp declines were prompted by fears that global investors might inflict the same punishments on China that they had on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. J.P. Morgan had evenly called Chinese equities “uninvestable.” That call helped send Chinese equities into the tailspin that Liu tried to reverse with his “happy talk” about “reform.” It’s not clear …