It’s hilarious that capitalist rags like the economist want their lib readers to fear Xi by making him out to be some authoritarian conservative.
Also funny: central government wants local governments to invest in good toilets, the gall! How dare they support improving public services! 
I agree with you. The Economist is its own particular kind of terrible. I think it’s the media outlet I hate the most, actually. I also hate, hate, hate that Economist articles don’t have bylines. We don’t get to know which particular ghoul wrote this particular reactionary nonsense article, so it’s just “The Economist” having terrible opinions, as usual. Fucking cowards. Put your names to your articles so I can make fun of you personally.
It doesn’t have bylines because many of them are teenagers plucked from conservative societies at universities rather than actual experts or even staff writers. It’s a cheap content mill with set stories basically.
you’ll probably enjoy this: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/05/how-the-economist-thinks