China is in a difficult position. Headlines about its slowing economic growth do not reflect the vast array of issues the country is facing. Among them: President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, economic restructuring and reforms, the internationalization of the yuan, the management of the nefarious consequences of slow growth, rising debt, deflation, and bad debt. Many of its goals demand careful sequencing if they are not to go awry. Some already have and several others are in conflict.
It is impossible to assess China's economic prospects without acknowledging the effects of opaque Chinese politics. Remember that Xi came to power anxious that the Communist Party had decayed and lost authority under his predecessors, and fearful that it might succumb to a similar fate as the Soviet Communist Party.
