Editor’s note for July 20, 2023
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Dear reader:
The Chinese Communist Party has a reputation, deserved or not, for long-term planning, and for valuing stability above all else. But Beijing also has a track record of whiplash-inducing 180 degree changes in direction.
The last major change like this was the sudden abandonment of the COVID-zero policy at the end of 2022. Yesterday, Beijing effectively declared an end to a long-running crackdown on China’s tech giants and other private companies with a full-throated endorsement of the vital role they play in the economy (scroll down for details).
The Party’s plan already has backing from some of the country’s leading entrepreneurs. But will consumers start spending again, and will the people who run the country’s countless small to medium-sized enterprises be reassured?
Our Word of the Day is the name of China’s newly released plan:
Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy
中共中央 国务院关于促进民营经济发展壮大的意见
zhōnggòng zhōngyāng guówùyuàn guānyú cùjìn mínyíng jīngjì fāzhǎn zhuàngdà de yìjiàn
