Must-read: Martin Wolf: “China’s Struggle for a New Normal”

Must-Read: Martin Wolf: China’s Struggle for a New Normal: “Beijing must be decisive and yet responsive to the needs of the people…

…At present, it seems strangely indecisive on the economy and yet increasingly authoritarian on the politics. Only a fool would consider political instability anything but a disaster for China and the world. Equally, the desire of President Xi Jinping to attack corruption and so strengthen the legitimacy of the Communist party is understandable…. [But] its political institutions must surely move beyond the ‘democratic centralism’ invented by Vladimir Lenin a century ago. The challenges are daunting. It is only the successes of the recent past that provide confidence in those of the future.