Xi Jinping Faces Hurdles As Crucial Communist Party Meeting Approaches China
But so far, the year of the tiger has been full of obstacles. First, draconian Covid lockdowns in major cities such as Xi’an and Shanghai, the commercial capital, caused an outcry and disrupted global supply chains. The economy then showed signs of a severe slowdown, leading to rising youth unemployment. Xi’s “borderless” cooperation with Vladimir Putin has also made China a target of Western criticism. And in the last fortnight or so, a whirlwind trip by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has raised real fears of a miscalculation over Taiwan, which Beijing has long claimed as its own....