As expected, Xi was able to stack China’s top leadership group with close allies. Furthermore, he left the door open to staying on beyond 2022 by not anointing a successor. Unfortunately, there are few signs that Xi plans to use his increased power to resolve China’s key structural problems. The only silver lining is today’s promotion of key officials that favour greater reform, which offers a modicum of hope that policy could shift in a more liberal direction in future as the flaws in Xi’s current agenda become clearer.
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