Xi Jinping and China face another tough year
Amid numerous challenges, will the government be able to keep a lid on dissent?
EVERY YEAR on December 31st a glimpse of an impenetrable world is revealed. On Chinese state television, Xi Jinping delivers his New Year address to the nation (pictured). China’s netizens pore over the footage. On no other occasion do they get to see their leader sitting at what purports to be his desk. They swap analysis of Mr Xi’s collection of photographs, displayed on bookshelves behind him. And they parse his ponderously delivered words. “Along the way, we are bound to encounter headwinds,” he said this year. Many will see that as an understatement of China’s woes.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Here be dragons”
From the January 6th 2024 edition
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