China’s government has made significant policy shifts in recent months, including lifting the zero-covid policy, loosening credit regulations for real estate development, and a less strident tone in international relations. These changes suggest a sense of reversal or climbdown, despite the absence of official admissions of any policy failing. Is all this recalibration just part of a push to juice a flagging economy? Has recent overt public discontent over a number of issues had an impact on the thinking of the authoritarian state? And what, if any, is the reputational and political cost to Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party?

Dr Chris Buckley, chief China correspondent for The New York Times, examines China’s lively policy dynamics with presenter Ali Moore.

An Asia Institute podcast. Produced and edited by profactual.com. Music by audionautix.com. Transcript here.

Listing image: President Xi Jinping. Credit: UN Geneva/Flickr.