China’s economic outlook is grim after months of on-and-off COVID-19 lockdowns have disrupted industry around the country, and left the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top leadership on edge.
Local officials were recently ordered to stimulate the now-shrinking economy in this crucial political year, as CCP leader Xi Jinping will make his bid for a third term at the 20th National Congress this fall. But analysts suggest such an order would be hard to implement given weak underlying economic conditions, and that the regime’s hardline “zero-COVID” policy has the imprimatur of Xi and is thus unlikely to be eased.
