Muzzling critics, mishandling defaults: The big mistakes China made in 2020

Even if you resent China for being the epicenter of Covid-19, you’ve got to admire Beijing’s leadership skills. Less than a year after the pandemic erupted, life is back to normal, while Europe and the U.S. are still struggling. The country is now the world’s shining economic outlier.

Many good things can be said about China. Wearing a mask isn’t a political debate. Bureaucrats take virus testing so seriously that some measures go overboard. The central bank resisted the temptation to take the cheap, zero-rate shortcut to boost the economy, and is opening financial markets. No wonder yield-hungry foreigners are