Crypto News: Shaking things up

President Xi Jinping's biggest shake-up in years serves what might seem to be a counterintuitive purpose: stability.

China's annual parliamentary pageant kicks off on Sunday. It comes as Xi replaces a generation of internationally respected economic officials with a clutch of politicians better known for strong ties to the president.

Key reading:

Creating stability will be the name of the game for Xi as he heads into the National People's Congress. He's wrestling with a fragile economic recovery, and spiraling tensions with the US.

Early signs of growth since Covid Zero restrictions were lifted have pleasantly surprised authorities and may help restore faith in the country's social contract — the promise of prosperity in exchange for fewer freedoms. Sustaining that momentum is critical for Xi who faces an increasingly skeptical public and even sporadic protests over the fallout from his pandemic management.

Avoiding anything that destabilizes the country's $60 trillion financial sector is another key focus. Whether that be over bankers dubbed "hedonistic" last week by China's top anti-graft watchdog or financial institutions, Xi looks set on increasing his oversight.

Getting a handle on all these domestic challenges could pave the way for a more strident China that's willing to take a harder line on other issues including the democratically governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its own territory. Restoring a lasting calm at home will give Xi more breathing room, allowing him to tackle worsening ties with the US and its allies.

While US President Joe Biden's administration expands restrictions on China's access to strategic technology, Xi has resisted retaliatory moves that could blow back on his own economy.

Chinese officials have even sought to portray China as a neutral mediator over Russia's war in Ukraine.

But if Xi can successfully tamp down the uncertainty at home, that may well increase his appetite to take on more risk abroad. — Rebecca Choong Wilkins

Xi during the unveiling of the new Politburo Standing Committee on Oct. 23. Source: Bloomberg

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War supplies | When German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the White House today, he may face pressure from Biden to find ways to step up production of ammunition for Ukraine. While the US and Germany promised to send battle tanks and Patriot missiles, Ukrainian troops confronting a fresh Russian offensive are still waiting on much of that equipment and face a shortage of basic artillery shells.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Quad nation counterparts from India, Australia and Japan used a public appearance to seemingly reassure China the grouping was not seeking to force countries in Asia to choose between them and Beijing.
Follow our rolling coverage of the war in Ukraine here.

No choice | Turkey's opposition is in crisis over a failure to agree yesterday on a joint candidate to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hampering a rare chance to unseat the country's longest-serving leader at elections in less than three months. The impasse marked the 12th time opposition leaders have come together without finding consensus on who should run.

Turkish inflation decelerated to its slowest in a year, though a stimulus plan following deadly earthquakes and looser monetary policy poses a risk to prices in the run-up to the May 14 vote.

Two years after Covid-19 sent women's share of the US labor force to its lowest level since 1987, female participation is steadily increasing. Yet recent studies have documented a disturbing trend: Many senior-level women, exhausted and torn between their career ambitions and personal lives, are now bowing out.

Diminished figure | Back in 2021, Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch was described by Biden as "the most dangerous man in the world," such was the raw power his cable news network had in shaping public opinion. But questions over how influential Murdoch remains — and whether he still has the ability to make or break political careers — loom large in Republican circles ahead of what portends to be a contentious 2024 presidential primary race.

Revived debate | It's been more than three decades since the Philippines ordered US troops to withdraw from their sprawling military bases in the country, ending an era that hearkened back to America's colonial days. Now, as Philip J. Heijmans reports, the man overseeing the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority — once home to the US's biggest naval base in Asia — wants them back.

The US and South Korea are planning large-scale military drills, defying threats by North Korea to retaliate and turn the Pacific Ocean into its "firing range."

Fizzling out | Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's campaign pitch was to bring back prosperity to Brazilians, or as he put it: "People need to be able to barbecue again." But as Andrew Rosati writes, with the economy contracting at the end of 2022 and the downturn expected to continue this year, the president's honeymoon looks likely to be short, and his plans to fight hunger and reduce political division put at risk.

Lula in Washington on Feb. 10. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The US Justice Department said former President Donald Trump isn't entitled to absolute immunity against civil lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol because he's accused of inciting "imminent private violence."
Apple partner Foxconn plans to invest about $700 million on a new plant in India, sources said, underscoring an accelerating shift of manufacturing away from China as Washington-Beijing tensions grow.
The European Union is leaning toward easing strict debt-limit rules imposed on national governments if extra spending is earmarked for defense.
Peter Obi, the Nigerian politician who ran an upstart presidential campaign from outside the two main parties, plans to challenge the election result in court after he finished in third place.
Kenya won't allow same-sex marriages, President William Ruto said as he rebuked the East African nation's Supreme Court for a decision in favor of LGBTQ freedoms.
Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, who won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize while in prison, was sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony as the government continues a crackdown on opponents.

Pop quiz (no cheating!) Which country's leader was accused of stoking xenophobia against Black Africans to deflect from a political and economic crisis? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally ... New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a surprise appearance at the 2021 Met Gala in New York wearing a rented white strapless dress with "Tax the Rich" in big bright red letters running down the back. Now the House Ethics Committee is considering investigating whether she violated rules and accepted "impermissible gifts" for the star-studded ball.