Let’s face it, the economic data from China this year has made grim reading. Imports, exports, purchasing managers indices, youth unemployment, foreign direct investment, manufacturing output, real estate investment and returns, urbanisation, consumer spending and inflation are all pointing in the wrong direction. The more President Xi aggregates power to himself and a small coterie of loyalists within the politburo, the worse the data seem to get.

Foreign investors are baling out like China...