China at 'fork in the road' on reforms to boost demand

The conference comes as China's trading partners confront oversupply risks in major industries, including electric vehicles and steel, which could spur manufacturers to dump excess goods on global markets. Beijing has set a growth target of 5 per cent for this year, the same as in 2023, but low compared with previous years, and analysts expect the economy to slow further in the medium term on the back of a property downturn and demographic decline. Customers at a new Apple store in Shanghai. China needs consumers to spend more to fire up growth. Bloomberg China has responded by promising to…