The zero-Covid policy is a heavy burden on the economy, and a war would finally plunge the country into crisis. But experts fear that ruler Xi could be willing to pay the price – with fatal consequences for the whole world.
Of
Florian J. Muller
First, a grim prognosis: according to Hal Brands, the war over Taiwan is almost certain. In view of “profound economic, demographic and strategic problems,” Chinese ruler Xi Jinping will try to change the existing order as long as he “still has the opportunity to do so,” Brands recently wrote in Wall Street Journal. The US historian from Johns Hopkins University attests to Xi’s kind of last-minute panic. One can now hope that he is wrong. But you just don’t know.