Xi’s useful foe

President Xi Jinping laid out his vision of a China with greater power, influence and appeal in the world as he offered up his country as an [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( President Xi Jinping laid out his vision of a China with greater power, influence and appeal in the world as he offered up his country as an alternative to the US and its allies. The “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is now on an irreversible historical course,” Xi declared in a speech lasting almost two hours yesterday to open the twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress that looks set to hand him a norm-breaking third five-year term. Key reading: - [Defiant Xi Tells World China Is Ready to Stand Its Ground]( - [Xi Gives Little Reassurance China’s Main Economic Risks to Ease]( - [Key Takeaways From Xi Jinping’s Two-Hour Speech]( - [Ban on US Persons at China Chip Firms Thwarts Xi’s Key Ambition]( - [What Makes China’s 2022 Party Congress a Landmark]( His comments suggest China is ready to face an increasingly confrontational US under President Joe Biden, who has sought to curb Beijing’s access to chip technology and deter it from taking military action against Taiwan — the biggest flashpoint between the world’s largest economies. Xi’s vow to realize “reunification” with the self-governed island prompted prolonged applause from the more than 2,340 delegates, an important reminder that his image of a nation ready to challenge American hegemony is aimed at his home audience of 1.4 billion people. Even as Xi tightens his grip on power, he needs to chart a path for China through its most challenging economic period in decades with little prospect of relief for the most costly policies for his people — upholding Covid Zero and the squeeze on property. For Xi, the convenient appeal of having the US as a foe may never be as important as it is now. — [Rebecca Choong Wilkins]( An outdoor screen shows Xi’s speech live. Photographer: Jade Gao/AFP/Getty Images Click [here]( to follow Bloomberg Politics on Facebook and if you’re enjoying this newsletter, click [here]( to sign up for Balance of Power. Global Headlines Survival fight | Britain’s beleaguered Prime Minister Liz Truss is [battling]( to rescue her premiership, as financial markets test her screeching economic reset and mutinous Conservative lawmakers plot to oust her. She’ll host a Downing Street reception for her cabinet tonight, a source says. New Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt also plans meetings with all the ruling party’s legislators this week. - Hunt is [accelerating]( plans to bring order to the UK’s public finances with a statement today aimed at reassuring markets spooked by Truss’s earlier proposals. - After years of denying the downsides of Britain’s split from the European Union, the Brexit [taboo]( is starting to lift in the ruling party and the country’s right-wing press. Fresh attacks | Russia launched another wave of strikes by Iranian-made kamikaze drones on Ukraine including against the capital, Kyiv, with [explosions]( hitting the city center today. EU foreign ministers are due to agree on a new mission to train around 15,000 Ukrainian personnel as soon as mid-November and sign off on an additional €500 million ($487 million) in weapons financing at talks in Luxembourg. - Follow our rolling coverage of the war in Ukraine [here](. Satellite images and data on loading and unloading compiled from ports and vessel-location transmissions obtained by Bloomberg show how Russia is using multi-ship transfers of cargo in the open seas to [launder]( grain stolen from occupied Ukraine. Big divisions | Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s biggest economies are [divided]( on a variety of issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and ways to deal with climate change. That was clear from a Group of 20 statement released yesterday — three days after the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington. Normally such a document is issued within hours of the end of discussions. Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [Have the UK’s Keystone Cops Hit Peak Chaos Yet?: John Authers]( - [US Can’t Fight China, Iran and Russia All at Once: Hal Brands]( - [Our Climate Future May Be Decided in Gridlock: David Fickling]( Dollar scramble | Food importers from Africa to Asia that are already facing a historic global food crisis are [struggling]( to secure dollars to pay their bills as a surge in the US currency drives prices even higher. Their reduced purchasing power and shortages of the greenback are compounding wider strains across global food systems following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A container ship docked at a flour mill in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Bloomberg Explainers you can use - [Carbon Capture Plans Hit Record but Still a Drop in the Ocean]( - [Emerging Markets Hurt Less as Dollar’s Wrath Sinks Rich Nations]( - [Germany’s Yawning Labor Shortage Squeezes Struggling Industry]( Getting nasty | Insults and allegations of corruption [punctuated]( a tense one-on-one televised debate between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It was a key moment for the candidates to reach millions of voters in the final stretch of the presidential race ahead of the runoff election on Oct. 30. Tune in at 1pm ET for a Twitter Space conversation with our reporters on what close races in the state of Georgia say about November’s midterm elections. You can listen [via this link](, which will also be available afterward. News to Note - EU nations agreed today to a new package of [sanctions]( on Iran over human-rights violations related to the death of a young Iranian woman in police custody. - Former Prime Minister Imran Khan won the majority of seats in Pakistan by-elections yesterday, [building momentum]( in his campaign to pressure the government into calling an early national vote. - The EU’s executive arm plans to propose a mechanism to curb [price volatility]( on the bloc’s biggest gas marketplace. - Ongoing [widespread flooding]( in Nigeria has claimed 603 lives and left 1.3 million people displaced in Africa’s most populous country. - Poland may not receive as much as €75 billion in regional aid from the EU, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper reported, an escalation of the dispute over the its [failure]( to uphold the rule of law. - Brazil will [propose]( Ilan Goldfajn, its former central bank president and current Western Hemisphere director at the International Monetary Fund, to lead the Inter-American Development Bank. Thanks to the 20 people who answered Friday’s quiz and congratulations to Ken O’Brien, who was the first to name Venezuela as the country where the opposition reversed course by announcing plans to compete in the next presidential election no matter what the government does. And finally ... A Secret Service unit responsible for identifying risks [downplayed warnings]( of violence before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Emails, internal reports and threat assessments obtained by Bloomberg News tell of extremist groups heading for Washington, including some openly discussing violence. But internal memos circulated among agents say “there is no indication of civil disobedience” associated with any of the planned protests. Bloomberg Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022