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! 
Yep, much like most of Western media, they get a quote from an official or a document, and then frame it in a way that makes them look bad. They know readers won’t look too far into it and look for a proper source