China’s Growth Slows but Xi Jinping Keeps to His Vision

News Snapshot:

Even with growth faltering in China, Xi Jinping appears imperiously assured that he possesses the right road map to surpass Western rivals. China’s economy has lurched into a slower gear. Its population is shrinking and aging. Its rival, the United States, has built up a lead in artificial intelligence. Mr. Xi’s pronouncement several years ago that “the East is rising and the West is declining” — that his country was on the way up while American power shrank — now seems premature, if not outright hubristic. The problems have brought growing talk abroad that China could peak before it fully...