China's economy grew 5.4% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, official data showed on Friday, significantly beating analysts' expectations and enabling the government to meet its annual growth target.

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’s economy expanded by 5% year on year in 2024, with an upswing in the final quarter of the year, as a flurry of stimulus measures kicked in and helped meet Beijing’s growth target.

Note: no sound] A view of the loading and unloading operation area of the container terminal in Longtan Port Area of Nanjing Port, Jiangsu province, China,6, 2025. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on the same day,