December 2014
The Xi Jinping Scorecard
A year after the landmark Third Plenum at which China’s leader laid out his vision for reforming China, how is Xi Jinping doing? For most of 2014, China-watchers were skeptical, as the property market teetered on the edge of collapse, economic growth slowed, and headline reforms failed to gain traction. The case for skepticism is now falling away. An overhaul of the nation’s fiscal system began in June, the capital account opened wider with the linkage of the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets in November, and in December draft rules for deposit insurance were published, opening the door for interest-rate liberalization. Virtually all provinces have published plans for diversifying ownership of state enterprises, setting up a path to eventual privatization. There are still plenty of problems, but the direction is clear and the initial steps are impressive.
Also in this issue:
- Arthur Kroeber debunks the notion of a fragile Communist Party
- Tom Miller travels along the “New Silk Road” China is building in Central Asia
- Thomas Gatley and Chen Long take a look at the booming stock market, and have their doubts
- Randall Peerenboom elucidates what “Socialist Rule of Law” means
- Tom Mitchell argues that Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protesters won the battle
- Founding editor Joe Studwell reviews Nicholas Lardy’s latest book on the rise of the private sector