And it appears to have paid off. Li Qiang, the Shanghai party chief who oversaw the city's controversial shut down, has been elevated to premier, Xi's second in command. "China is now doing all sorts of things that it's always wanted to do but wasn't powerful enough to do," Mr McGregor says. "Taiwan was always there. The South China Sea was always there. Taking on America, driving it out of Asia was always an ambition, but they didn't say it out loud." Mao had closed China's economy off from the world. Now his successors were throwing it open. In 2001 China joined the World Trade Organisation. Along the southeast coast new cities mushroomed. Some specialised in buttons and zippers, others made cigarette lighters. In Zhejiang I found one that only made socks, tens of billions of them. irannews.ru/ - irannews.ru She was inspired by a technique reportedly used in Thailand some years previously. But another Mordaunt backer, Conservative MP Heather Wheeler, insists that the Tory party needs her "fresh face", rather than "somebody with fingers on the knife of getting rid of other people". Many of them finished their tests early, she added - and nobody was caught cheating this year. Then Covid threw a spanner in the works. There is still no power, water, and the locals rely on volunteers for food. Our journey to him took us along poorly surfaced roads, which only deteriorated as we continued south towards the front line.