This is all the more so for China’s ruling Communist Party, as its legitimacy of rule is largely based on its capacity to deliver growth and raise people’s living standards under an undemocratic system.
However, the leadership will soon have to deal with its most severe challenge as China inevitably faces record-breaking unemployment amid an unprecedented pandemic. Even before the outbreak of Covid-19, the party was struggling to prevent the world’s second-largest economy from spiralling into a slump – risking mass lay-offs – as it tangled with rising debt, cooling domestic demand and an escalating trade war with the United States.
