Those disappointed by China’s economic data must put the facts in perspective, as higher income levels go hand in hand with lower growth rates. Industrialising the rest of China’s huge rural labour force will provide enough momentum for productivity gains in the years ahead.

Imagine what happens if China commits to wiping out its share of the US trade deficit – a chain reaction of stronger US dollar, higher US interest rates, and a redistribution of Chinese imports could bring pain to the rest of the world.

Beijing has embraced the mistaken view that China’s economy is overleveraged. A large part of China’s high debt-to-GDP ratio is actually cheap credit given to the state sector. In fact, the private economy is underleveraged.

the repeated cycle of monetary tightening followed by stimulus is largely driven by Beijing’s flawed deleveraging policy, and the drop in stock prices is just the latest phase.

Beijing should think twice before taking populist retaliatory measures against Washington. Instead, it should focus on increasing domestic spending