Editor's note: Originally published at tsi-blog.com on February 17, 2020.
[This blog post is a modified excerpt from a recent TSI commentary]
The main purpose of the GDP growth numbers and most other economic statistics reported by China's government is to tell the story that the central committee of the Communist Party wants to tell. In other words, the economic numbers form part of the State's propaganda.
For example, during the first decade of this century the Party's objective was to show that the economy was performing in spectacular fashion, so the reported GDP growth