Xi Jinping urges China’s provinces to be patient and fair in push for economic reforms

The Chinese leader also urged provincial leaders to remove the country’s internal barriers to create a national market

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Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the study session on October 29 for principal officials at provincial and ministerial level on implementing the guiding principles of the third plenum. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:11pm, 5 Nov 2024Updated: 7:29pm, 5 Nov 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on provincial leaders to be patient about the pace of economic reforms and cautioned them against trying to solve problems hastily, according to Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.

He also urged them to break down the fences of vested interests in each province in favour of a national market and to avoid “selective law enforcement”, the newspaper said.

“Reform is a gradual process and cannot be achieved with just one move,” Xi told the officials last week at a study session about the spirit of the party’s third plenum – the conclave that took place in July and outlined the country’s economic direction.

The market, meanwhile, is closely watching the meeting of the country’s top legislative body, which is reviewing and set to unveil a bill this week on local government debt swaps, along with other measures in a financial policy package to address short-term economic pains and prop up growth.

While it only published a summary of Xi’s speech to the officials, the flagship newspaper has rolled out four opinion pieces based on the speech’s highlights in recent days in an effort to get the key messages across.

Xi delivered his remarks amid high expectations that Beijing was about to unveil a range of fiscal stimulus measures designed to inject funds into the Chinese economy against a backdrop of economic challenges.

On October 18, China posted quarterly economic growth of 4.6 per cent – its lowest since the first quarter of last year, raising concerns about whether it can reach this year’s target of “around five per cent”.