In the face of an uncertain global environment and systemic risks, China must continue its reform and opening up policy to ensure economic stability.

The strategic perception that U.S. trade measures against China could provoke a Chinese debt crisis and thus coerce the CPC into early commercial capitulation is based on a grave miscalculation of Chinese economic fundamentals. This misjudgment could escalate and prolong an otherwise limited trade war with disastrous consequences for China-U.S. relations and the global economic order.

Beginning the year with a drastic restructuring of the Constitution, the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi appeared increasingly formidable. But in the face of domestic scandals, currency concerns, and a trade war with the U.S., Minxin Pei argues that President Xi may need a new strategy to satisfy the Chinese people.

China seems determined to avoid a serious financial crisis, but as a result, credit continues to expand at an unsustainable rate. A reckoning must eventually come, argues James Nolt.

In the West, many economists and observers now portray China as a fierce competitor for global technological supremacy. This is a serious misrepresentation, argues Zhang Jun.

Criticism is typical of vibrant international media. Yet, prejudiced biases in financial matters have the potential to harm investors worldwide. The Chinese bond market is a case in point. Not only is China’s bond market growing explosively, but it has become diversified and provides broad investment options to both Chinese and foreign investors.

The escalating rivalry between Alibaba and Tencent and the two firms’ anti-competitive tactics appear to have drawn little regulatory scrutiny from the government. That may be in part because the Chinese government is so eager to grow its domestic tech sector that it is reluctant to interfere with two of its most successful firms.

This century is supposed to be China’s century, the result of forty years of hard-won prosperity on the back of tough-minded reform and sacrifice. That still might happen, but the outcome rides heavily on whether a new generation of leaders are able to resurrect the magic of China’s economic exceptionalism.

The only way to mitigate the risks that China faces is with a tough, continuous, and comprehensive reform strategy.

Many in the West fear a China-led attempt to overhaul the rules and norms that underpin the existing world order. Are they right to be afraid?