From hypersonic missiles to undersea drones, the PLA is making leaps

Xi Jinping learned a lot from his first job. As secretary to Geng Biao, a vice-premier and defence minister, from 1979 to 1982, he handled sensitive documents and joined top-level conclaves. He travelled abroad for the first time. And he spent countless hours listening to Geng—a former general and ambassador—as they shuttled between meetings in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes or unwound playing a game of weiqi, also known as Go.