China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990

China's Xi clarifies economic reform policy

May 11, 2016

An explanation of President Xi Jinping’s hallmark economic policy, in his own words, was ­published in People’s Daily yesterday – one day after it printed an interview with an unidentified “authoritative” source repudiating China’s debt-fuelled growth policies. According to the South China Morning Post, Xi’s explanation – a 20,000-character transcript of a speech that occupied two pages in the newspaper – was the most comprehensive elaboration of the president’s thinking on the Chinese economy’s past, present and future and its role in the global economy since he became the country’s leader more than three years ago. Xi said supply-side structural reform would be different from that of the West.