Hidden turmoil

Uncertainty is rising in China

In both political and economic terms, uncertainty over the future of China has grown. On the political side, the apparent removal of the defence minister, Li Shangfu, who has disappeared from public view and is reportedly being probed for corruption, has demonstrated that all is not well at the highest levels in the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP. And on the economic side, the implications of a slow-moving crisis in real estate, which represents about 30 per cent of China’s gross domestic product, continue to have a ripple effect across the country’s economy and beyond.

In the latest batch of troubling