China faces 2026 marked by economic strains and uneasy rivalry with US: Asia Society

Beijing and Washington will continue to circle each other warily in 2026 even as China’s leadership struggles to balance economic growth against its control fixation, according to a report on next year’s outlook for China released on Wednesday by the Asia Society.

“As we look towards 2026, the story is not one of rises or triumph. It’s not black or white,” said Lizzi Lee, a fellow at the Society’s Centre for China Analysis and one of the report’s co-authors. “It is a story of transitions, trade-offs and tensions.”