China reported that GDP growth slowed substantially in 2011 to 9.2%, compared to 2010’s 10.4%. But maybe it slowed more – a lot more.

That’s the suspicion voiced by China analyst Derek Scissors of the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, who has long maintained that Chinese stats are about as reliable as the Boston Red Sox during a pennant run.

“China’s economic statistics are usually inconsistent, occasionally wildly inconsistent, and do not seem to be improving in quality,” Mr. Scissors writes. He says in 2011, Chinese authorities are “very likely exaggerating growth.”

His evidence: Growth in auto sales plunged . Orders for news ships, a big export item, fell even harder. Meanwhile, oil imports increased just 6%, compared to 17.5% in 2010.