Xi Jinping is killing the dream

Japan was floundering in the aftermath of its post-bubble implosion, whereas a reform-oriented China had the wherewithal, determination, and strategy to withstand the currency contagion of a devastating external shock and sustain rapid economic growth. As China delivered, boosted by its accession to the World Trade Organisation in late 2001, and Japan sunk into its second lost decade, the Chinese economy took off like a rocket. It was the beginning of an extraordinary journey for me as Wall Street's resident China optimist. In the spring of 1998, I spent a day in Seattle with then-Chinese finance minister Xiang Huaicheng. He…