Reform Retreat and Renewal: How Economic Policy Fits into the Political System

Xi Jinping's economic reforms should be seen as a response to the situation bequeathed to him by the previous Hu-Wen administration. On balance, Hu-Wen achieved little with respect to economic reforms and in some ways went backwards. This reform retreat was accompanied by a substantial increase in the power of bureaucratic agencies such as the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Assets Supervisions and Administration Commission. Xi Jinping's reforms can be seen both as an effort to overcome the crisis of confidence about economic reform that became pervasive in China over the past decade, and an effort to shake up entrenched bureaucracies that may have begun to block reforms. Xi's initiatives are thus more radical when viewed from the standpoint of politics and economics together, than when just seen as economic policies. However, the overall logic of Xi's policies has still not emerged clearly.