Is Xi PingPong becoming a ‘Norman No Friends’?

weekend blog

There are some quite interesting (I think) things happening in China which don’t seem to get much mainstream media attention.

Last year, Evergrande, once a giant in China’s property market, collapsed due to mounting debt triggering a wider crisis in the Chinese real estate sector. A Hong Kong court ordered the company’s liquidation in January 2024. Evergrande’s debt surpassed an astonishing $300 billion. Moreover, there are many other Chinese property companies which are also over-indebted and on the brink of collapse. And several new Chinese cities which are just ghost cities:

There are an estimated 65 million Chinese homes which are unoccupied.

Many Chinese families have invested in property expecting a continual rise in property prices. But when a country with a falling population keeps building ever more properties, economic gravity will eventually win over uncontrolled speculation.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will inevitably claim that China’s economy grew by the planned 5% this year. But the truth is that in many cities, Chinese property prices have fallen by up to 50% and this is having a negative knock-on effect on consumer confidence, consumer spending and the Chinese economy.

And now that Trump has imposed massive tariffs on Chinese exports to America, many Chinese factories are closing as they can’t sell their now unwanted production in the Chinese home market and up to 20 million Chinese workers may lose their jobs. Moreover, around 12 million students graduate from Chinese universities each year and unemployment for new graduates is at around 55%.

Faced with this situation, after years of bullying its neighbours with its aggressive expansionist policies, Chinese mafia boss (sorry, I meant the head of the much-respected CCP) Xi PingPong has just been on a charm tour of South-East Asian countries to try to make friends and create a group of countries who will oppose the new US tariffs. Judging by the video linked below, Xi’s attempts to seduce China’s neighbours into an anti-US trading block are backfiring as most countries seem to prefer getting into bed with the US rather than China. South Korea has already finalised a new trade deal with the US and many other countries are expected to follow.

Much of this is explained in the video below. It’s rather long and the presenter is not (IMHO) the most stimulating speaker. But you only need to watch a few minutes to get the picture.

Why this situation might be important to us is the issue of how Chairman Xi will react if China goes into a serious recession and he feels his position is under threat. In such a situation, totalitarian leaders usually try to find a foreign enemy so they can use the cover of patriotism to rally their disaffected people. If Xi goes that route, an invasion of Taiwan might look extraordinarily convenient for Chairman Xi.

Anyway, here’s the video explaining why Xi might be becoming a ‘Norman No Friends’: