Xi Jinping’s Fatal Error

Xi Jinping struck a surprisingly conciliatory tone in his New Year’s Eve address to China’s citizens over the weekend, when he called for unity and acknowledged diverging opinions in the country currently living through the largest coronavirus outbreak in the world. The nation’s leader staked his personal political legitimacy on his response to the pandemic. His zero-COVID policy, which he insisted had balanced the economy against public health “to the greatest extent possible,” was touted among his central achievements when he extended his rule over the Communist Party last October. “Ours is a big country. It is only natural for…