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

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…