Will current crises cost Xi Jinping?

BEIJING - Last year was an exceptional year for Chinese President Xi Jinping. In February, he proudly declared that the country of 1.4 billion had wiped out absolute poverty and lifted 850 million out of abject hardship - a feat nothing short of a miracle.

Riding on a high fuelled by a systematic and extensive propaganda campaign to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of China (CPC), he stood in Tiananmen Square on July 1 last year and declared another significant achievement.