‘Lockdowns And Other Pandemic Related Shutdowns May Have Hit Xi Jinping Politically’

NEW DELHI: The pandemic and lockdowns in Chinese cities has added a new edge to the rivalry between President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Although the former has done much to weaken the political clout of the latter, the pandemic and successive lockdowns in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities have hit the economy hard, and given Le Keqiang a lease of life.

In this conversation on StratNewsGlobal, Dr. Srikanth Kondapalli of Jawaharlal Nehru University, argues that the premier is working hard to revive the economy, but given Xi Jinping’s commitment to the “zero covid” policy, this has not proved easy to achieve. To make matters worse, the president’s aim to get the rich to transfer some of their wealth to those less well off, has hit the confidence of the country’s tech titans.

How could this affect Xi Jinping’s chances of winning a third term in the coming party congress later this year? It’s hard to say, says Dr. Kondapalli, the president has numbers behind him but the groundswell of opposition to him cannot rule out an upset.

Tune in for more in this conversation with Dr. Srikanth Kondapalli.