Asian markets were mixed on Thursday as minutes indicating a less hawkish Fed were offset by China’s premier warning that the world’s number two economy was in some ways worse off now than during the early days of the pandemic. The wind was immediately taken out of traders’ sails as they digested Li Keqiang’s warning, which comes as China sticks fast to a zero-COVID policy to eradicate the fast-spreading Omicron virus variant. The economic agony caused by lockdowns and other strict containment measures has hammered growth across China and sent shockwaves globally as key supply chains were brought to a halt. Data in recent weeks have shown that a series of pledges by Beijing to kickstart growth has essentially fallen flat owing to a lack of concrete action, while analysts say the easing of the COVID policy was the only thing investors wanted to see. “Economic indicators in China have fallen significantly, and difficulties in some aspects and to a certain extent are greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020,” Li told an emergency meeting on Wednesday with representatives from local governments, state-owned companies and financial firms. He also urged officials to work...