Xi Pivots Fast on Covid and Property. Will His Cadres Listen?
China is signaling readiness to re-open its economy. Markets are enthusiastic, but the reality may well be very different.
Choke points.
Photographer: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Only weeks after consolidating power at the twice-a-decade party congress, President Xi Jinping has made a remarkable pivot, recalibrating the two policies that have suppressed China’s economic growth to the slowest pace since the Cultural Revolution. The notoriously stringent Covid controls and the harsh crackdown on real estate developers will be relaxed with sweeping new playbooks that local officials are now being asked to follow.
The fast shift in narrative is impressive. The National Health Commission is now emphasizing a “scientific” approach to Covid control, saying at last weekend’s media briefing that tracking close contacts of close contacts and classifying cities into medium-risk areas no longer make sense. Under such scenarios, only about three out of 100,000 people test positive, according to a spokesperson. As of early November, zones accounting for more than half of China’s gross domestic product were designated as high- or medium-risk, thereby restricting personal freedom and business activities.