Commentary
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and others in China’s communist regime frequently associate themselves with the reputation Chinese culture has for patience and taking the long view in human interaction. If that cultural reputation is justified, Beijing’s claims ring false. Little of what China’s leadership does—certainly in the realm of economics—exemplifies either patience or the long view.
On the contrary, they have exhibited an almost adolescent impatience to pull every lever of power as quickly as they can. And what is more, this rather un-Chinese behavior has begun to undermine the economic basis of their power….