Take Over the World? Not on This Budget
A cratering economy and demographic headwinds are going to force some hard choices on Xi Jinping.
Xi needs to retrench.
Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg
Xi Jinping’s confidence in China’s unstoppable economic rise has driven much of his grand strategy. In the early years of his rule, it led China’s president to undertake an ambitious expansion of Chinese influence abroad, rapid military modernization, and mega-projects such as the trillion-dollar Belt-and-Road Initiative.
After Sino-American relations ruptured in the wake of former US president Donald Trump’s trade war, conviction that time was on China’s side likely played a part in Xi’s decision not to compromise. “In our culture, we punch back,” the Chinese strongman reportedly said in June 2018.