During his 10-year tenure, Chinese President Xi Jinping transformed the world’s second-largest economy into a tool for projecting geopolitical power.
Why it matters: By conditioning foreign access to China’s mass economy on adhering to Chinese Communist Party lines, Xi has emphasized corporations and governments around the world on Beijing’s domestic and foreign policy goals, while the Chinese government continues to commit human rights abuses.
Some Western observers think global industry would spread liberal democratic values in China, but Xi’s rise has shown that authoritarianism can also spread through economic ties.
According to the numbers: Since Xi first went into effect in 2012, China’s economy has more than doubled from $8. 5 trillion to $17. 7 trillion in 2021.
What happened: Xi has strengthened the state over foreign access at all levels of the Chinese economy by employing global industry and supply chains as political leverage, and has influenced Chinese consumers’ decisions to align with the state’s goals.
Such control has also improved China’s ability to set foreign standards, which may give Chinese companies an advantage to get started in global markets.
At home, Xi last year declared an end to extreme poverty in China and said that over an eight-year period, nearly a hundred million people had been lifted out of poverty, fulfilling a key initiative of his mandate.
What to watch: China’s economic duration is expected to exceed that of the U. S. U. S. over the next decade; this key milestone is possibly now delayed due to a recent slowdown in expansion caused by China’s strict 0 COVID policy and a housing crisis.
China’s immediate economic expansion gradually slowed Xi’s tenure and then fell sharply in 2022 when strict lockdowns crippled cities as giant as Shanghai for weeks.
Why it matters: Economic unrest is pushing Xi to seek other avenues for the CCP’s legitimacy and avoid social unrest.
What’s going on? The country’s export-oriented style has largely “lost steam” and has not yet fully migrated to a style based on domestic consumption.
The number of births in China now only exceeds the number of deaths: births have risen from about 16 million in 2012 to 10. 6 million in 2021.
Why it matters: In the future, China’s low birth rate will mean a reduction in the working-age population to grow the economy and the elderly. This can result in a stagnant economy and a heavy burden on social coverage systems.
Background: For more than a hundred years, China’s leaders have been engaged in demanding situations to ensure the health and prosperity of the country’s massive population.
What’s going on? In 2016, the Chinese government abandoned its decades-old one-child policy, allowing all couples to have two children.
Watch: Beijing in August introduced new incentives for Chinese couples to have more children, adding physical education, mental counseling and assisted reproductive technologies. It is transparent whether those measures will have a significant impact.
China is modernizing its military by investing in high-tech weaponry, shrinking its military and improving its combat readiness.
Why it matters: Xi pledged to build “world-class forces” for a country already perceived as a “growing threat” to the United States, to the Pentagon.
By the numbers: China now spends more on its military than any other country in the world outside the United States.
What they say: Admiral John C. Aquilino, head of U. S. Indo-Pacific Command. The U. S. Army told The Washington Post in June that it was witnessing “the largest army buildup in history. “
Beware: The Pentagon estimated last year that China could have 1,000 nuclear warheads available by 2030, nearly triple what it had in 2021.
China, under Xi, is intensely focused on becoming a world leader in clinical studies and technological progress that can simply reduce the country’s dependence on the United States and Europe for semiconductors and other critical technologies.
Overview: Innovation plays a bigger role in China’s expansion history, as the country strives to evolve from a manufacturer of reasonable products to a developer of complex products.
What they say: “Science and generation allow a country to stand on its own,” Xi said in a speech last year. “Fundamental strengthening is a prerequisite for self-sufficiency in science and generation. “
Details: Revealed in 2015, the country’s “Made in China 2025” master plan aims at R
By the numbers: China spent $564 billion on R
China’s human rights landscape has continued to worsen in recent years, as Xi has “doubled” repression in the country, according to human rights groups.
Overview: Governments around the world have coordinated foreign moves to condemn China’s human rights abuses, the government’s repressive policies toward Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, which the United States has identified as genocide.
Usa. The US and EU imposed sanctions on Chinese officials in connection with human rights abuses in Xinjiang. A U. S. law The U. S. ban on imports that went into effect in June after being approved by Congress last year bans the import of hard-working goods into Xinjiang.
Yes, but: Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council narrowly rejected a Western-led move into a debate over alleged human rights abuses by China in Xinjiang.
According to a recent Pew Research Center report, others in many complex economies have seen China in an unfavorable situation over the past decade.
Why it matters: China has long touted its “peaceful rise” policy, but the rise of competitive diplomacy, the expansion of global media influence, and the effects of its opaque lending practices have cast doubt on China’s stated technique for adapting to a superpower.
According to the numbers: In 2012, more Americans (42 percent) had a favorable view of China than an unfavorable opinion (40 percent), according to the Pew report.
The plot: An Edelman poll this year found that Chinese citizens’ acceptance of his government was 91 percent, the highest in the past decade.
China’s film is replacing Hollywood at the country’s box office.
Why it’s important: Beijing uses domestic films as a key channel for mass messaging aimed at achieving political goals, leaving little room for foreign films, Axios reported earlier this year.
What they say: “Writers and artists will have to tell China’s story well, spread China’s narrative well,” Xi said in 2014. “They will have to provide the culture and glorious arts of our country to the world. . . and deepen understanding of Chinese culture.
Current situation: Of the 10 highest-grossing countries in China last year, 8 were domesticArray
The sectors that have driven China’s expansion for decades — real estate, production and technology — have faced headwinds in recent years.