China's economy grew at its weakest pace in three years, the government reported Friday.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Gross Domestic Product grew at a 7.6 percent rate in the second quarter of 2012, down from a 8.1 percent pace in the first quarter and marking the sixth consecutive quarter of slowing growth on the mainland dating back to 2009.
The data were in line with official government projections for the quarter although they serve as another reminder that China's economy is slowing faster than the government had hoped.
China is under enormous pressure from abroad and at home to maintain steady economic growth. Amid worrying economic numbers out of the European Union and the United States, China is increasingly viewed as one of the few motors strong enough to power the global economy through this financial turmoil.
Meanwhile, here on the mainland, the ruling Communist Party has seemingly staked its legitimacy to an unspoken pact with its citizens: give up some social freedoms for continued economic prosperity.
"For the past 30 years, the Communist party derived a lot of its legitimacy from delivering the goods: better economy, better living standards," says Patrick Chovanec, a professor of economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, "If the perception is that's changed, then it introduces a real element of uncertainty."
Comment: Who confirmed? What was the confirmation based on? Why isn't the data that caused this confirmation put into the article? Is Syria about to be chemically attacked and then blamed for it? The above article only creates more questions. Syria may well be moving its chemical weapons caused by the fear of a false flag attack that will make it look as if it has poisoned its own people.
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