When Xi Jinping secured his third five-year term as China’s leader in late 2022, he started warning senior cadres to prepare for the “stormy seas” and “worst-case scenarios” that lay ahead for the nation of 1.4bn people.
2022年底，习近平获得中国国家领导人的第三个五年任期后，开始警告高级干部要为这个拥有14亿人口的国家未来将面临的“惊涛骇浪”和“极端情况”做好准备。
Billions of dollars of state spending later, China has built up what experts believe are some of the world’s biggest stockpiles of oil and other vital commodities. And now a Middle East conflict that is choking one of its most important trade routes is setting Beijing the biggest test yet of its preparedness for resource supply shocks.
在投入巨额国家支出之后，在专家看来，中国已经建立起全球规模最大的石油及其他关键大宗商品储备之一。如今，中东冲突正在阻塞中国最重要的贸易航道之一，这对北京方面应对资源供应冲击的准备工作构成迄今最大的考验。
“Party leadership is obsessed with ‘grey rhino’ crises, exactly like what we’re looking at,” said Even Pay, director at strategic advisory group Trivium China, referring to dangers that are obvious but not properly prepared for.
战略咨询机构策纬咨询(Trivium China)董事裴西霞(Even Pay)表示：“中共领导层对‘灰犀牛’式危机格外关注，眼下的情况正是如此。”她指的是那些显而易见但却没有得到充分准备的风险。