The problem when standing on the mountaintop is that you also may be standing at the precipice. That appears to be the situation facing Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. His word is law, but that leaves him with no one to blame for the plethora of challenges facing his regime. Economic growth has slowed, the real estate market risks collapse, high debts bedevil China's state banks, corruption continues to undermine military readiness, and Xi has been forced to purge political and military ranks of his own appointees. His tight control over almost every aspect of Chinese life, including the economy, is discouraging domestic entrepreneurship and foreign investment. The People's Republic of China faces potential demographic collapse, with the population having begun a long and sharp decline. Doubts are growing that the PRC's economy will ever surpass America's.
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- United States of America
