Beijing’s economic policy has changed. Is the era of rectification of science and technology companies coming to an end?
In his 2023 New Year’s speech , President Xi Jinping mentioned economic development in the first minute, which is different from the New Year’s speeches of the past two years. The phrase “adopt a series of measures such as tax cuts and fee reductions to relieve the difficulties of enterprises” has aroused many fantasies. After more than two years of rectification and sky-high fines for Internet companies, enterprises may finally come to the end of the tunnel and see the light?
Many departments have also sent long-lost warm words recently. The People’s Bank of China has set the tone for this year’s work, pointing out that 14 large-scale platform companies such as Ant Group have basically completed their rectification. In the future, they will support platform companies to improve innovation capabilities, service quality and efficiency, and enhance competition. strength in order to “display one’s talents in international competition”. The 2023 work conference of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission mentioned that “we must fully support the overall improvement of economic operation. Priority should be given to supporting recovery and expanding consumption.” Even Didi Chuxing, which was deeply involved in the rectification storm, has been “resurrected”, announcing on the 16th that it will resume new user registration from now on.
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The “New York Times” described that just as it vowed to wage an all-out war against the new crown virus that day, China is now launching another campaign to convince companies that the central government regards restoring economic growth as its top priority. The “Wall Street Journal” quoted sources earlier that after the end of the 20th National Congress, He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, called for the formulation of policies to stimulate the real estate industry and revive the confidence of entrepreneurs in an internal meeting.
The “Financial Times” also quoted unnamed Chinese officials and government advisers as saying that Beijing is studying how to improve diplomatic relations with some countries that have deteriorated for many years and boost the weak economy. “Xi Jinping’s foreign and economic policies are undergoing fundamental changes. adjustment (fundamental reset).
However, no matter how “fundamentally adjusted” the policy is, it cannot be separated from the characteristics of Xi Jinping’s governance – firm “supervision”. The Financial Times quoted sources as saying that China’s Internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), has taken stakes in Alibaba subsidiaries and Tencent in order to allow Beijing to maintain firm control over these Internet giants.
