‘Don’t wait, waver, hide or hesitate’: Xi Jinping on ‘supply-side’ reform
President drives home the need for structural changes, accusing some local governments of ‘missing the point’
President Xi Jinping has again sought to rally officials around his hallmark “supply-side reforms”, just days after the publication of one of his long lectures on the subject underscored his dissatisfaction with progress so far.
“All regions and all departments must unify their thoughts and actions to stay in line with the decisions [on reform] made by the party’s Central Committee,” CCTV news on Monday night quoted Xi as saying.
“Don’t wait because of the heavy burden, or waver because of the extreme difficulties, or hide because of the risks, or hesitate because of the pain.”
Xi made the remarks at a meeting yesterday of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, the country’s top economic policymaking body. Xi heads the committee and Premier Li Keqiang is a deputy.
In its prime-time news bulletin last night, the state broadcaster read out Xi’s address to the meeting but did not present any footage of the gathering.
Xi Jinping’s supply-side plan now the genuine article of economic reform for China
It said only that Li attended the meeting, along with Politburo Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan, and Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, who is also a Politburo Standing Committee member.
Xi said that he was not completely happy with the reform process.
Some local governments haven’t started vigorous implementation yet, and some efforts are missing the point
“Some local governments haven’t started vigorous implementation yet, and some efforts are missing the point,” CCTV quoted Xi as saying.
“The Chinese economy may have cyclical and aggregate demand problems, but the main problems are structural ones, and the key issue still lies on the supply side.”
As a result, the country’s economic policy priorities should be to cut production capacity and inventory, Xi said, echoing the points made in his speech published in People’s Daily last week.
The publication of the speech came a day after another People’s Daily article, citing an “authoritative figure”, exposed divisions at the top about economic policy.
The article took aim at the government’s first-quarter attempts to spur economic expansion through debt.
Guessing game: who is mystery ‘authoritative figure’ claiming major shift in China’s economic policy?
In a subtle but unmistakable way, the “authoritative” figure criticised thegovernment for allowing too much credit to flow into the economy and explicitly warned of the risk of a “financial crisis”.
However, in an apparent defence of its economic achievements, the State Councilyesterday publishedthree articles on its website, arguing that the county’s economic growth had remained stable, the economic structure had improved, and people’s living standards were on the rise.
Although the mainland has pumped an unprecedented amount of credit into the economy – which slowed significantly in April, the country’s monetary and credit growth was “still stable and normal” overall, according to a statement on the government website.
