News Analysis While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) predicted 5.5 percent economic growth in 2022, the indicators say that Beijing is under the illusion of wishful thinking. COVID-19, a failing property market, sanctions from the Uyghur genocide, secondary sanctions from the Russian invasion, Xi Jinping’s reforms, and regulatory crackdowns are hitting China’s economy and leading most economists to predict less growth this year. “China this year will be lucky to avoid contraction,” analyst Gordon G. Chang told The Epoch Times by email. “The country ended 2021 with plunging growth. This year has been worse with declining consumption, spreading COVID lockdowns, and proliferating defaults.” Chang wrote “The Coming Collapse of China,” a 2003 book that predicts the economic and political implosion of China under the weight of its communist regime. “Local governments are tight on cash as the all-important property sector collapses,” he told The Epoch Times. “Add in geopolitical tensions …