TOKYO – With Xi Jinping’s coronation in full swing in Beijing, few eyes are on Japan’s down-and-down economic trajectory. That includes Tokyo’s top leaders as the plunging yen signals the last gasp of national ambitions to take on China.
One of the less appreciated undercurrents this week as Xi’s Communist Party plots out China’s next five years is avoiding the lost-decade pitfalls with which Japan is still grappling.
There again – between default risks in the property market, excessive bureaucracy, an aging population, and self-inflicted headwinds like “zero-Covid” – economists haven’t been shy about pointing out the Japan parallels and potential pitfalls as China regroups.
It’s clear, though, that Xi’s party can set out their strategies knowing that there is little fight left in a humbled and increasingly downbeat Tokyo.