Beijing [China] October 22 The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gathered in Beijing for the Fourth Plenum of its 20th Central Committee on October 20, state media claimed that the closed-door meeting would chart the course for the upcoming "15th Five-Year Plan," but the real concern is not planning for the future it's the worsening economic downturn and growing internal discord within the CCP, as reported by The Epoch Times.
According to The Epoch Times, while the state-run Xinhua News Agency boasted of "remarkable progress" under the ongoing 14th Five-Year Plan, analysts and economists stated that these assertions bear little resemblance to reality. Xu Zhen, a veteran financial expert, described the past five years as a period marked by "economic collapse."
He said China's real estate bubble burst, highlighted by the bankruptcy of Evergrande, has destroyed one of the country's key engines of growth.
"Exports have faltered amid the US-China trade war, and consumer confidence has evaporated since the pandemic," Xu explained. "The result is a flood of bankruptcies, job losses, and overwhelming debt across households and local governments." Evergrande's delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and liquidation proceedings, he noted, symbolise China's broader economic decay.
Wang He, a commentator on Chinese current affairs, shared a similar assessment, arguing that the CCP's draconian lockdowns "shattered the economy" and wiped out much of the middle class, once the backbone of domestic spending.
He also said Beijing's "wolf warrior" diplomacy has left China diplomatically isolated and economically fragile. Official statistics reveal the decline. China's GDP grew just 4.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, down from 5.2 per cent in the previous quarter, its weakest performance in a year. Deflation pressures have returned, exports to the US have plunged by 27 per cent, and producer prices have fallen for 36 consecutive months, as highlighted by The Epoch Times.
Despite these alarming figures, Xinhua continues to tout "miracles of growth and stability." Wang dismissed this as propaganda, warning that "China's real growth may already be below 3 per cent," and public unrest is rising. "The so-called stability is an illusion," he said. "The CCP is sitting atop a social and economic time bomb," as reported by The Epoch Times.
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