Taiwan's trade-dependent economy grew less than expected in the fourth quarter of 2024 but managed the fastest growth in three years last year at 4.3%, reaping the benefits of the AI boom and a recovery in demand from China.

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 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.