An obsession with control is making China weaker but more dangerous

No one in China can say that Xi Jinping is wrong. (Image: Getty)

Fri, 14 Oct 2022

It will be an orderly affair. From Oct 16, the grandees of China’s communist party will gather in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for their five-yearly congress. Not a teacup will be out of place; not a whisper of protest will be audible. The Communist party has always been obsessed with control. But under president Xi Jinping that obsession has deepened. After three decades of opening and reform under previous leaders, China has in many ways become more closed and autocratic under Xi. Surveillance has broadened. Censors...

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