Reports questioning strong China growth deleted from WeChat

A post by an Internet user on WeChat mocking how the surprising figures caught a fictional economist off guard and left him frustrated in finding reasonable answers was removed as well. That article was read more than 100,000 times before it was deleted. — AP

At least two reports by well-known economists questioning China’s surprisingly strong economic data were deleted from the Chinese social media site Wechat in the last day, indicating the government’s sensitivity about the economy.

A post by JD.com Inc. chief economist Shen Jianguang arguing that there are multiple contradictions behind the strong data was taken down Wednesday by Tencent Holdings Ltd, owner of the mobile application. The error massage said the article “violates regulations” and was taken down due to “relevant complaints”, without giving further explanation.

Tencent did not respond to a request for comment. Tencent moderates the content on WeChat, sometimes in co-operation with the government.

On Tuesday, China reported stronger-than-expected economic data for the first two months of the year, with consumer spending, investment, and industrial output all growing strongly. The data showing a rise in investment came despite the weakening housing market and falls in output of key construction goods such as cement or steel, prompting some to question the accuracy of the data.

Shen’s article was also published Wednesday morning by Caixin, an independent domestic media company, but had been deleted at some point since then. However, the article, which was titled “Three contradictions behind the far-better-than-expected economic data”, was still available at the Google cache. Caixin did not respond to a request for comment.

A similar post by China Evergrande Group’s former chief economist Ren Zeping which called out a “mismatch” between strong macroeconomic data and weak micro data was also missing. A post by an Internet user on WeChat mocking how the surprising figures caught a fictional economist off guard and left him frustrated in finding reasonable answers was removed as well. That article was read more than 100,000 times before it was deleted.

Separately, an article critical of Beijing’s policies to rein-in what it calls the “disorderly expansion of capital” was deleted from the WeChat account of a state-run think tank after being posted Tuesday. The unidentified author of the article posted by the SmartStone Institute argued that the campaign associated with a crackdown on Internet platform companies had been based on a series of intellectual mistakes. – Bloomberg