China’s Veiled Data Some agricultural analysts in the West have noted that Chinese data reporting in the sector can go missing, fail to be consistent, or be even outright false in order to better comport with Beijing’s policy mandates. Now the Financial Times notes that the problem isn’t limited to agriculture. In fact, the reporting from China’s National Bureau of Statistics has plummeted from a peak of around 85,000 reports issued in 2011, to a current low of around 9,000 reports. Some reports may have been consolidated, or otherwise improved but the overall trend toward secrecy has become clear. This past week’s so-called “two sessions” meeting of the Communist Party’s Political Consultati...