[mytailorisrich]

China does not need external (as in 'foreign') investment. They have huge amounts of cash.

The strategy seems more about decoupling and independence from foreign interference and potential sanctions. Likewise, when foreign investors leave it is also because they've seen what was done to Russia and thus don't want to repeat that with China, which would be massively more costly.

Edit with data:

In 2022 Chinese households accumulated $1tn in savings, just over that year (this is something typical in China because of lack of safety net and lack of investments avenues, hence also why everyone wants to buy property to invest their cash): https://www.crugroup.com/knowledge-and-insights/spotlights-b...

China also has $3.2tn in foreign cash reserves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign-exchange_reserves_of_C...

They also use that cash as a tool of foreign policy with loans to foreign countries in excess of $240bn: https://www.reuters.com/markets/china-spent-240-bln-bailing-...

[jemmyw]

They have massive amounts of debt and it's becoming a problem which is likely one of the reasons they're trying to hide the data. It's provincial debt and state company debt which is mainly internal so I don't really understand the implications of it.

[berserk1010]

They do? Probably should tell the average citizens in China who are having trouble withdrawing cash out then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9odXNPldCI. I think some banks were kind enough to tell their customers to withdraw in a few months. Other banks just zeroed out their customer's bank account.

[vbezhenar]

Potential? China is under heavy sanctions right now. They need to surrender or to fight. For now they chose the latter.

[cronin101]

$1tn in savings is $660 per person over an entire year? I know purchasing power is a big thing but I’m not sure whether to interpret this as a large amount or not.

[mytailorisrich]

Yeah, I wasn't clear. They talk about "excess savings", which, as far as I understand, are additional savings relative to baseline, so total amount of money saved should be much higher.

[caidehen]

I came from China. I can provide some context for people to understand what $660 mean in China:

1. It's about 2 month's salary for low to low-medium level, in most big cities.

3. Rent for one room, about 120 square foot is about $100 per month, in big cities.

2. It costs 2 to 3 us dollars for one-person's meal, with 4 to 5 dollars you can get a good meal. Tax included.

[justinclift]

China's debt to GDP ratio seems to be worrying plenty of people though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgeV0n9L2es

[inglor_cz]

China has a long history of closing itself away against foreigners and their disruptive ideas, yes. It also has a long history of stagnation caused by the same.

At the end of the day, "wanting to be a superpower on par with the US or greater" and "isolating yourself from barbarians" are two incompatible goals. Superpowers need to build coalitions and attract allies; this cannot be done without some mixing of the involved nations, even if it just concerned students, businesspeople, investors, soldiers and diplomats.