During his first decade as China’s leader, Xi Jinping regularly touted the importance of reform and opening up the economy even as he pushed the country sharply in the opposite direction. On Sunday, as he laid out his ambitions at an important political meeting, he barely paid lip service to the notion
Xi, who is expected to secure a ground-breaking third term when the Communist Party congress concludes this week, made just three references to market reforms in his nearly two-hour speech and omitted more than a dozen others from a longer, written v…
when he did talk about markets, the message was established rhetoric. He lauded “socialist market economic reform,” while also arguing that China’s economy should “give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation.
Under Xi’s leadership, China is returning to its roots: a state-controlled economy that demands businesses conform to the aims of the Chinese Communist Party. Pro-business, free-market reforms that propelled it to become the world’s second-largest ec…
Many of Xi’s hallmark policies have had an arresting influence on the economy. Restrictive Covid policies have shaken the confidence of consumers and businesses. The housing market, a source of jobs and household wealth, is in crisis, and youth unemp…
The shift in the business climate has been stark. Internet companies, once idolised as champions for China on the world stage, are now fenced in by multiple government agencies. Billionaire tycoons, including Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, have bee…