The screenshot calls Xi a “big boss” and uses “WHN” to refer to Wang in an attempt to bypass censorship.
No one is sure who wrote it, when it was written or if it is true. But a screenshot of four paragraphs of text detailing China’s reopening plan was enough for traders to stock up on two operational days.
The unverified post, containing black characters on a white background with no identifying marks, first began circulating Monday night in WeChat social messaging groups filled with analysts and fund manager, according to accounts of dozens of investors, who requested anonymity. By the next morning, it had spread like wildfire.
The screenshot shows that China’s No. 4 official Wang Huning – one of seven people on the powerful Politburo Standing Committee – held a meeting with Covid-19 experts on Sunday at his request. request of President Xi Jinping. It calls Mr. Xi a “big boss” and uses “WHN” to refer to Wang in an effort to bypass the censors, who tightly curate messages and social media posts about China’s political elites. China.
Rumor has it that Beijing will soon set up a panel of experts to jointly come up with a “conditional reopening plan”. The goal is to reopen physically by March next year. The upcoming 10th edition of the much-anticipated covid guide will provide surprises. pic.twitter.com/5gwK0tIMCD
– Shanghai Macro Strategist (@ShanghaiMacro) November 1, 2022
Representatives at the meeting, including members of the economic and propaganda committee, discussed “accelerating the conditional opening plan, with the goal of a basic opening by March next year,” it said. .
The post gained more attention when it was shared by “96 Old Stock Trader” at 11:26 a.m. on Xueqiu, a Chinese-language financial platform. Less than 20 minutes later, prominent Hong Kong-based economist Hong Hao tweeted something similar – and stocks in the MSCI China Index are well on their way to a $320 billion gain. An additional increase on Wednesday brought the two-day total to $450 billion.
Research 2022-10-31: The second hottest currency in history. Although HK can see further downsides, this is a time when excessive pessimism doesn’t help anyone, and starts to disagree with our opposite selves. $ EWHhttps://t.co/vSAXEPkafa
– Hao HONG , CFA (@HAOHONG_CFA) October 30, 2022
Investors are looking for reasons to buy Chinese stocks, which have been among the world’s worst performers this year as the economy grows near its slowest pace in four decades. The stock market saw a historic turn last week after Xi consolidated power in a two-decade-long personnel reshuffle and the yuan weakened to a 14-year low. five.
Lockdowns, weak consumption and ailing housing sector have clouded investment prospects in China. And now that Xi has placed his allies in key positions, hopes are building to take steps to boost the economy at the next annual session of China’s legislature. March.
“Reopening is not a decision that can be made overnight,” said Hong, a partner and chief economist at Grow Investment Group. “It has to be through careful research and communication. That’s why most of us think after the Twins Session in March is a good time to reopen.”
The episode is an illustration of how difficult it is to get accurate information in the world’s second-largest economy, where internal government discussions and leadership changes are closely guarded secrets. . That means major policy changes can often leak in unusual ways, even if they’re not immediately verifiable.
China has officially ignored these rumors, while the state media has ignored them for the past two days. A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of the rumor during its regular press conference on Tuesday and that questions on the topic had been removed from the official transcript of the briefing.
On Wednesday, more rumors surfaced as the protest continued. Twitter user Shanghai Macro Strategist, who claims to be a China strategist and has more than 14,000 followers, posted purported screenshots from two Chinese brokerages reporting changes coming to China’s Covid policy. The user declined to comment further in a message to Bloomberg News.
A screenshot showing Haitong Securities Co. said a meeting would be held on Friday to ease quarantine requirements and remove circuit breakers for flights, among other measures. The brokerage said the screenshot was not true in an email reply to Bloomberg News.
Rumor has it that Beijing will hold a meeting on Friday and make the below changes: 1) the mandatory quarantine shortened to 5+2; 2) secondary contacts are no longer quarantined; 3) cancel medium risk areas; 4) cancel circuit breakers for international flights; 5) delegating more power to local government pic.twitter.com/DhlnDWOL7C
– Shanghai Macro Strategist (@ShanghaiMacro) November 2, 2022
Another screenshot cites three analysts from Tianfeng Securities as saying that virus control will be eased. When contacted by Bloomberg News, all three analysts said they were not aware of any information about Covid policy.
Even as the Communist Party offers little transparency and severely limits press freedom, officials in Beijing discourage investors from reading too much international media reports about China. .
“A lot of media reports, let me put it this way, they really don’t understand China very well and they only focus on the short term,” said Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said in the pre-recorded comments. to Hong Kong’s banking summit on Wednesday. “I would advise international investors to find out for themselves what is really going on in China and what the real intentions of our government are.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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