The World Ahead Globe Icon
The World Ahead | China in 2024

China’s leaders will seek to exploit global divisions in 2024

But they will continue to preach harmony

Illustration: Cristiana Couceiro

By David Rennie

China will pursue two contradictory goals at once in 2024. Xi Jinping and other Communist Party bosses will seek to rally and lead a bloc of countries that are sceptical of an American-dominated world order. But even as China’s rulers prepare for an age of division and great-power competition, they will present their country as a defender of global unity.

Explore more

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the headline “An undeclared cold war”

Discover more

The World Ahead The World Ahead

The World Ahead 2024

Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation

The World Ahead The World Ahead

The World Ahead 2024

Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation


The World Ahead The World Ahead

The World Ahead 2024

Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation


The World Ahead The World Ahead

The World Ahead 2024

Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation

The World Ahead The World Ahead

The World Ahead 2024

Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation

The World Ahead The World Ahead

Introducing The World Ahead 2024

Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation



Discover more

A circle of Yuan bank notes

Xi Jinping’s belated stimulus has reset the mood in Chinese markets

But can the buying frenzy last?

A collage of President Xi and a hammer and sickle

Worries of a Soviet-style collapse keep Xi Jinping up at night

China’s Communists have now been in power longer than the Soviets



A new class struggle is brewing in China

As the economy falters, resentment between social groups is growing

Can Xi Jinping take Hong Kong “from stability to prosperity”?

A fixation on security may cost the city in the long term

China’s government is surprisingly redistributive

That is despite a stingy tax-and-transfer system