Chinese President Xi Jinping¡¯s consolidation of power has cleared the path for him to break China¡¯s cycle of debt-driven growth and put the economy on a more sustainable footing. But there¡¯s a big problem: He¡¯s failing to convince the nation that¡¯s a good idea.
As the world¡¯s second-biggest economy undergoes a prolonged slowdown, Xi¡¯s move to shun the old playbook of unleashing broad stimulus is spurring discontent. The China Dissent Monitor, a project of U.S.-based Freedom House that collects information on protests, says economic demonstrations have remained elevated since August, with many focused on labor disputes and a real estate crisis that¡¯s cutting into household wealth.
Thousands of angry retail investors last month flooded the U.S. Embassy¡¯s Weibo page with criticism of the government¡¯s handling of the economy in the midst of a $7 trillion stock rout. Elsewhere on the platform, some even insinuated that only a change in the top leadership would spur markets ¡ª comments that managed to skirt censors before they were eventually taken down.
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