Leadership in China Confronts Tougher Tasks Than in Boom

Since Deng Xiaoping kicked off China’s modernization drive in the late-1970s, Chinese officialdom has proudly overseen an unrivaled run of high-speed growth. The country’s rapid rise elicited awe and admiration abroad -- and solidified the legitimacy of the one-party and authoritarian Communist Party at home.

In recent years, though, it sometimes seems the country’s admired economic technocrats have been replaced by a jazz improvisation group, composing policy on the fly. On Wednesday, China’s latest growth rate came in at 7 percent, better than forecast, but there’s no denying it has decelerated markedly from the double-digit average seen from 1980 to 2012. And it remains below the increase in debt.