Analysis: Shanghai lockdown affects Xi's plans to promote allies

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

The sudden lockdown of Shanghai, China's economic powerhouse, has sent shockwaves through Chinese political circles.