Can Beijing bounce back?
Isabel Hilton writes in her usual well-informed style about the challenges facing Beijing (“If China cracks”, Jan/Feb). Her comments on the country’s struggles with the pandemic, its housing crisis, its poor growth over 2022—and the possibility it falls into the “middle-income trap”—are well made. It is clear that China’s leaders are facing a grim menu of economic difficulties. Nor could one reasonably dissent from Hilton’s assessment that they are likely to prioritise shoring up their own political power over finding effective answers.