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Opinion | Where does war in Ukraine and a troubled economy leave China’s common prosperity goal?
- The campaign to address gaping inequality by reining in market freedom was at the top of Beijing’s agenda last year
- But as new Covid-19 outbreaks and Russia’s aggression threaten to slow China’s already sluggish economy, undoing decades of economic reform is fraught with risks
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Earlier this month, as Russian forces shelled Ukrainian cities and Covid-19 infections soared, China’s leaders gathered for their most important annual political meetings: the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
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While the weighty documents and lengthy speeches hardly mentioned the pandemic, and did not mention Russia’s war at all, China – and its already troubled economy – is undoubtedly being rocked by both.
For much of the past year, Beijing’s “common prosperity” campaign dominated Chinese government rhetoric. President Xi Jinping has frequently described common prosperity as “an essential requirement of socialism”. But important questions about the campaign’s contours remain, and many observers expected them to be answered at this month’s twin sessions.
That did not happen. Instead, China’s leaders made only brief and patchy references to “prosperity for all”. In the face of internal and external instability, China’s leaders seem to be recalibrating their priorities.
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Sanctions on Russia will dampen global economy, Xi tells French and German leaders
Sanctions on Russia will dampen global economy, Xi tells French and German leaders
To be sure, economic headwinds are nothing new. The annual central economic work conference last December highlighted risks to China’s economy in 2022 stemming from contracting demand, supply shocks and weakening market expectations.
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