Editor’s note for January 5, 2023
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
My thoughts today:
Is Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 in trouble? Has the sudden reversal of China’s COVID-zero policy damaged him or weakened his hold on power?
Yes, say some well-informed people. Two of them are former British diplomat and author of China Coup: The Great Leap to Freedom Roger Garside, and veteran China financial analyst, entrepreneur, and perspicacious observer Anne Stevesonson-Yang (see also my interview with her last year).
But I say no. Xi and his inner circle may have been surprised, as the Wall Street Journal reported today, by the anti-lockdown protests late last year. And as I predicted in our 2023 Red Paper: This coming year, there “will be mass grumbling about the economy and the Party’s handling of COVID…and amongst the political, economic, and intellectual elites about Xi Jinping’s rule,” but Xi and the Communist Party all but certain to stay in power.
There is no organized resistance against Xi within the Party, and there is no organized resistance to the Party outside of it. And if you need any confirmation of Xi’s strength despite the COVID shenanigans, have a look at the Xi-cophancy on display in today’s issue of the Party newspaper, the People’s Daily.
Moreover, as China Project subscriber Anthony Lawrence — a veteran China-based journalist and entrepreneur — wrote to me in an email today: People who think the end of COVID zero shows that Xi is weak overlook the simplest reason: “Xi won his struggle for the 20th Congress and was then able to relent.”
Reminder: The China Project is revamping. This includes changing the name of this newsletter from ChinaAccess to Daily Dispatch. We’ll also refresh the format and visuals to make it easier to-digest, while ensuring it remains the world’s most informative daily roundup of everything you need to know about China.
Daily Dispatch will still come out five days a week and include a news briefing, top story, and additional links. As ChinaAccess subscribers, you don’t need to do anything to receive Daily Dispatch, but when it switches over on January 17, we look forward to your feedback.
Our word of the day is extract oil extraction agreement (石油开采协议 shíyóu kāicǎi xiéyì).
—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief
