There are those who believe China's ongoing Party Congress will bode well for companies that do business in or with China. I am firmly convinced that the opposite is true and that it will used as yet another opportunity by China to show that it will not be cowered by the declining relations and sanctions/counter-sanctions between the United States / EU / Australia / Japan on the one hand, and China on the other. I see China using this Congress to let the world (domestic and external) know that it fully intends to fight back and fight back hard. In other words, this Party Congress will lead to China's decoupling from much of the world accelerating, not slowing down. 

Recently, I was fortunate to attend a World Trade Center Utah event attended by Minister Jing Quan, the number three-ranking Chinese diplomat in the U.S. This was the first visit by a high-ranking Chinese official since the imposition of the "Trump tariffs", after which a massive delegation of Chinese officials descended on Salt Lake City

At least once a day, someone -- usually a client -- asks me if President Xi will hold onto power. And every day, I give  a much shorter version of the following half-serious, half-facetious answer: He will hold onto power, but for how long I don't know. It's like the stock market. I can right