China’s disappointing recovery appears to be suffering another indignity. Neighbours whose economic fortunes were supposed to be tied to the heft of the country’s rebound from the pandemic seem to be doing pretty well without it. Far from being pushed into a slump, some bellwethers had a thoroughly respectable year.

Singapore, which had been dogged for part of 2023 by fear of recession, finished strongly. South Korea’s economy closed out December with solid momentum. Markets across Asia have been obsessed with when the United States Federal Reserve will begin to cut interest rates; the prospect of the People’s Bank of China further reducing borrowing costs is met with a yawn. Even the slight strengthening in the renminbi can be attributed as much to Fed chairman Jerome Powell as Beijing’s efforts to put a floor under the expansion.