The empire of pain and paranoia that awaits Trump inside Xi’s China

May 12, 2026 — 5:00am

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China’s dictator Xi Jinping is due to receive Donald Trump, a much-diminished US president, in Beijing this week. Trump is being daily humiliated by Iran, as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has observed.

So what does Xi have to worry about? Quite a bit, judging by the conduct of his regime.

One clue was the edict issued two weeks ago by China’s predominant spy agency, the Ministry of State Security. In a highly unusual move, it ventured into social commentary to instruct young people how to live their lives.

“May every young person uphold their original aspirations, stand firm on their principles, remain undisturbed by noise and unclouded by confusion, and thrive in the prime of their lives,” it said through a video including an AI-generated young officer in police uniform.

And why did the secret police feel the need to dispense life advice to “young comrades”, as they call them? The ministry’s statement denounced a phenomenon known as “lying flat” or “tang ping”. This is the common term for giving up on mainstream pathways of work and career, opting out of a hyper-competitive scramble in a post-COVID economic slump.

Trump heads to China weak and embarrassed

Stephen BartholomeuszSenior business columnist

Senior business columnist

China’s youth find it hard to get jobs and, when they do, they find a “996 culture” where they’re expected to work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. Even so, many despair of ever being able to afford a home or attain the prosperity of their parents’ generation. If the system rejects them, they reject the system, hence the........

© The Age