Global growth forecasts have been ripped up and job losses are running into the millions and counting, while governments are pulling together rescue packages worth hundreds of billions of dollars that dwarf those of the financial crisis 12 years ago.Although it remains unclear when and how the pandemic will end, Beijing looks set to brace for increased opposition to its global ambitions. Chinese President Xi Jinping said this month that the country must get ready for unprecedented external adversity and challenges in the long run.
His warning came amid China’s “deepest economic contraction in nearly a century”, the restructuring of global supply chains and threats to Beijing’s colossal Belt and Road Initiative.
