Xi Jinping says preventing, resolving China’s financial risks are ‘eternal theme’ for Beijing
- Twice-a-decade financial work conference concluded on Tuesday, with President Xi Jinping saying China must ‘comprehensively strengthen financial supervision’
- Official statement also vowed to consolidate and improve Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre
President Xi Jinping said preventing and resolving financial risks must be an “eternal theme” for the Chinese government, vowing to strengthen supervision on all fronts.
The message delivered at the end of the two-day central financial work conference highlighted Beijing’s concern over the fragility of its financial system, particularly at a time when China faces an increasingly turbulent geopolitical environment and is grappling with property and local debt crises.
It also listed consolidating and improving Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre as a policy objective, which was mentioned in 2012 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis but omitted during the last financial conference in 2017.
The official statement said managing financial risks was critical for China’s next stage of development, admitting that the country still faces “outstanding financial and economic risks, [widespread] chaos and corruption in the financial sector and poor quality of financial services that is an ill-match to its real economy”.
[China must] comprehensively strengthen financial supervision and bring all financial activities under control in accordance with the law
Xi said China must “comprehensively strengthen financial supervision and bring all financial activities under control in accordance with the law”.
At the same time, China also needs to strengthen the quality of its financial services to support key areas such as technology, advanced manufacturing, the green economy and small and medium-sized enterprises, which are crucial to job creation.
