Gao’s sin? Saying that China may have grown just 2% over the last two or three years, less than half the rate Xi’s government claims. The reason Gao is allegedly being silenced is for shining a brighter-than-usual spotlight on one of the biggest perception problems facing Xi’s Communist Party: that China routinely cooks the GDP books.

China reported its economy grew 5% in 2024, meeting its target of around 5%. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected China's full-year GDP growth to come in at 4.9%, just shy of the official target of around 5% — which analysts had said was ambitious.

Sales of consumer goods grew a moderate 3.5 percent, while hospitality sectors continued to outperform discretionary segments such as apparel, gold and jewelry.

Analysts say they see signs of malaise in China’s domestic economy, but those problems were offset mainly by robust exports and a $1 trillion trade surplus.

China recorded one of its slowest rates of economic growth in decades last year, data showed Friday, as leaders nervously eye a potential trade standoff with the US President-elect Donald Trump. Beijing has in recent months announced its most aggressive support measures in years in a bid to reignite an economy that has suffered on multiple fronts,