China had busy 2023 in race to usurp US as dominant world power

Chinese President Xi Jingping started 2023 by consolidating power, beginning what would become an aggressive year in China's bid to become the globe's premier super power.

"People across China took extraordinary risks to publicly demonstrate for their human rights," Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, said in the organization's 2023 World Report. "Governments around the world should support people’s rights to free speech and peaceful protest, and hold the Chinese government accountable for rights abuses committed at home and abroad."

But that moment proved short-lived in a country well-known for crushing dissent, with China spending much of 2023 refocusing its aims on becoming the world's premier power.