Xi Crackdown Won’t Derail China’s Opening Up, Editorial Says

(Bloomberg) -- The mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party has run a front-page editorial seeking to ease concern that President Xi Jinping's regulatory crackdown will hurt foreign investors.

“Opening to the outside world is China's basic national policy, and it will not waver at any time,” the People's Daily said in the editorial, which was published on Wednesday under the headline “Sticking to Regulatory Supervision While Promoting Development.” 

“Unswervingly, the principles and policies of encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of the non-public sector of the economy have not changed!” the newspaper said, adding that the government of the world's second largest economy would protect the rights of foreign investors.

Xi's Common Prosperity Drive Triggers a Rare Debate in China

The goal of the regulatory moves has been “to promote the formation of a market environment of fair competition and better protect consumer rights,” the editorial added, and to open an avenue for “promoting high-quality development.”

Investors have been rattled as Xi's government has taken aim at industries from technology and property to after-school tutoring, erasing trillions of dollars in the value of some listed companies. The crackdown has come as Xi also pushed a campaign for “common prosperity” that would narrow the yawning wealth gap, a drive that has prompted rare public debate in China over far the campaign should go in reorganizing the economy.

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With assistance from Bloomberg