Xi unable to solve economic woesBy Paul Lin 林保華As China’s economy was meant to drive global economic growth this year, its dramatic slowdown is sounding alarm bells across the world, with economists and experts criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for his unwillingness or inability to respond to the nation’s myriad mounting crises. On the point of ideology, austerity has been at the heart of China’s revolutionary tradition of economic development. Deng’s reforms unleashed an economic boom in the 1970s that turned China into the “world’s factory” over the next 40 years. Xi thought economic growth was a given and even thought of keeping the nation under lockdown, while failing to understand that the Chinese economy can no longer develop in isolation from the world. Xi then slowly made his way up the hierarchy in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and then Shanghai as the Chinese economy picked up steam, especially in coastal areas.

Source: Taipei Times September 20, 2023 16:45 UTC