China | A cuddlier China?

China is trying to win over Westerners and private firms

But Xi Jinping is unlikely to change

BEIJING, CHINA - JANUARY 24: Workers wear Rabbit costumes as they entertain locals on a cold and windy day at a local park during Chinese Lunar New Year and Spring Festival activities on January 24, 2023 in Beijing, China. China is marking the Year of the Rabbit, the first Lunar New Year and Spring Festival without restrictions since the pandemic began in 2020, after China's government changed its strict zero Covid policy last month. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) — Image: Getty Images

Jan 25th 2023|DAVOS

Liu He is a grey-haired 71-year-old on the verge of retirement from China’s highest level of economic policymaking. He must have many regrets, not least the battering of his country’s economy by a now-abandoned struggle to crush covid-19, and by the disease’s recent rapid spread. But Mr Liu grinned with obvious pride as he recalled how members of the global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos had responded to his delegation’s upbeat remarks there a few days ago. “All kinds of people said, ‘Hey, China is back again!’” he told a television reporter.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “A cuddlier China?”