Will China’s stalling economy derail Xi’s global plans?

China’s economy faces a turbulent start to 2024 as declining stock markets and a prolonged slump in the property sector threaten to stymie Xi Jinping’s grand plans on the world stage.

In the first three weeks of January, mainland China’s CSI 300 Index dropped by 6%, the Shanghai Composite Index by 7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by over 12%, “reaching its lowest level in two decades”, said Foreign Policy‘s China Brief newsletter writer James Palmer.