What changes has Xi wrought?
Make no mistake about this: The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) resulted in President Xi Jinping establishing a fundamentally new political regime in China. This will have immense consequences for China, its neighbours and beyond. Domestic economic strategy will shift, affecting China’s trading and financial interactions with its economic partners. The harder-edged foreign policy that Xi brought in will not only continue but also expand.
Being so close to China and increasingly integrated into its economy, Southeast Asia cannot avoid being impacted. The region must adapt to this new China through diplomacy as well as by improving its capacity to manage the economic consequences of the new China.
