I DO not know whether investors have taken an advance on the Year of the Rabbit, which starts January 22 in China. However, there has clearly been a change in the attitude toward the Chinese stock market, and right now the relationship between the US and China is also changing.

Part of the story is a look back to mid-October last year when the Chinese Communist Party held its congress. In reality, nothing unexpected happened: the rhetoric concerning Taiwan was practically unchanged, President Xi Jinping was approved for a third term, and there was nothing new about Covid-19 policy. On the last item, there was little hope of a remark from Xi that would have indicated more relaxed Covid-19 regulations. It did not come and thus everything was politically status quo but that was not the case among foreign equity investors.