Rare Dissent Flares Before China’s 20th Party Congress

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at a rare display of dissent before China’s 20th Party Congress, deteriorating U.S.-Saudi relations, and Iraq’s new president.  

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Banners featuring defiant political messages and sharp criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping briefly dangled from an overpass in Beijing on Thursday, in a rare—and dangerous—expression of dissent just days before the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opens on Sunday.

The banners, which were surrounded by waves of smoke that drew attention to them, displayed slogans that demanded Xi’s removal and the end of China’s rigid zero-COVID policy. Photos of the protest initially spread on social media, although authorities swiftly wiped them from the internet.

“Let us strike from schools and from work and remove the dictatorial traitor Xi Jinping,” one banner declared, while another said: “No COVID test, we want to eat. No restrictions, we want freedom. No lies, we want dignity. No Cultural Revolution, we want reform. No leaders, we want votes. By not being slaves, we can be citizens.”

Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it was a “very brave, and in many ways, also very sacrificing” move with its proximity to the start of the Party Congress, which she described as perhaps the “most important political event in China.” 

It is a “very risky move to do this in such a public and relatively high-profile manner,” and those who made the banners will likely face severe consequences, she added. 

In 2018, Xi eliminated presidential term limits, paving the way for him to reign indefinitely, and immortalized “Xi Jinping Thought” in the CCP constitution. That has laid the foundation for him to likely secure a third five-year term—defying the established two-term convention and further consolidating his grip on power.

Chinese authorities have tightened already rigid measures in the lead-up to the event, including by bolstering Beijing’s police presence, curbing travel, and ramping up COVID-19 testing in an effort to avoid outbreaks.

In this week’s China Brief newsletter, FP’s James Palmer has written a crucial guide to the 20th Party Congress that explains what you should expect from the event—and what still remains unknown.

“There is no question of who is in charge,” he wrote. “The question is who falls beneath him and whether they have any real power to push their own agendas, especially when it comes to fixing an increasingly shaky economy.”

Deteriorating U.S.-Saudi relations. Saudi Arabia has issued a lengthy statement justifying OPEC+’s decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day, asserting that it was “based purely on economic considerations.” Riyadh also indicated that Washington wanted to delay the cuts by one month until after the U.S. midterm elections—a delay that it said would have resulted in “negative economic consequences.”

The White House’s response was blunt. “The Saudi foreign ministry can try to spin or deflect, but the facts are simple,” said U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. Other OPEC countries also opposed the decision, and Riyadh knew that limiting production would boost Russia’s finances, he added.

Iraq’s new president. After a lengthy political deadlock, Iraq’s parliament has selected Abdul Latif Rashid to be the country’s new president and kicked off the process to form a new government. Rashid is a Kurdish politician and Iraq’s former minister of water resources. He named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the new prime minister; Sudani must now create a cabinet in 30 days. 

Adam Tooze and Cameron Abadi will be taping an episode of FP’s popular economics podcast, Ones and Tooze, in front of a live audience. Come for the unvarnished repartee, the bookish asides, and, of course, the two data points that explain the world. Join us live in New York, or tune in virtually to the livestream. Oct. 25, 7-9 p.m. EDT | Purchase tickets.

Iran’s crackdown on students. As Iranian students take part in sweeping protests that have roiled the country, officials have responded by sending them to psychiatric institutions. “It is possible these students have become ‘anti-social characters,’ and we want to reform them,” Yousef Nouri, Iran’s education minister, told an Iranian newspaper. 

The toll of Nigeria’s floods. Severe floods inundating Nigeria have killed around 500 people, wounded 1,546, and displaced 1.4 million more, the Nigerian Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs announced on Wednesday. The deluge—Nigeria’s heaviest flooding in 10 years—has also destroyed more than 45,000 homes and at least 70,000 hectares of farming land. The ongoing floods have also devastated neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Niger, and Chad, as FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi reported in Africa Brief last month.

• Biden Is Now All-In on Taking Out China by Jon Bateman

• Saudi Arabia Is Not a U.S. Ally. Biden Should Stop Treating It Like One. by Aaron David Miller

• Why NATO Needs to Plan for Nuclear War by John R. Deni

An ultrarealistic humanoid robot named Ai-Da appeared to zone out and fall asleep while testifying in front of the British Communications and Digital Committee at the House of Lords, leaving inventor Aidan Meller rushing to put sunglasses onto the robot’s face and reset it. “When we reset her, she sometimes can pull quite interesting faces,” he said.