Xi Questions Local Officials on EV, AI Plans in Rare Rebuke (1)

President Xi Jinping questioned the need for local governments across China to crowd into the same emerging industries, a rare rebuke that reflects growing concerns about deflation at home and trade tensions abroad.

“When it comes to launching new projects, it’s always the same few things: artificial intelligence, computing power, new-energy vehicles,” Xi said in a meeting in Beijing this week on urban development, according to a Thursday article on the front page of the People’s Daily.

“Should every province in the country be developing industries in these areas?” he was quoted as asking by the mouthpiece of the ruling ...