, Columnist
One-Man Rule Isn't Good for the Economy Either
In fact, it'll make any serious, liberalizing reforms even harder.
Don't expect big things.
Photographer: Lintao Zhang-Pool/Getty ImagesChina’s defenders are putting an optimistic spin on the country’s tilt toward one-man rule. Now that President Xi Jinping has set himself up to remain in power indefinitely, they suggest, he will have the runway to see through painful but necessary economic reforms that have long been resisted by various actors within China’s political system. In other words, even if last weekend’s scrapping of term limits for the presidency dooms hopes for political liberalization, it increases the prospects for economic liberalization.