Chinese President Xi Jinping made a call on Friday for “new ties between politics and business”, encouraging officials to reach out to the private sector while keeping corruption at bay.
It was a rare address by the president on a sensitive topic. The relationship between the government and business has been complicated by persistent graft and collusion, fuelling public anger and hindering even legitimate interaction between the two sides. Xi’s campaign to root out graft has been blamed for partly contributing to the mainland’s slowing growth.
Xi made the comments at a joint panel meeting of the China Democratic National Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce – which both represent the private business sector in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
He offered reassurances that the authorities were committed to helping the private sector flourish, although Beijing would at the same time continue to maintain state firms’ significant role in the economy.
Xi told government officials and private businessmen their “new type” of relations should be “cosy” and “clean”.
“Leading officials should stay in touch with private enterprises … and be proactive in helping them to solve their difficulties,” Xinhua quoted him as saying. “But officials must never attempt to take bribes using their power.”
Xi encouraged businessmen to reach out to government officials and departments to support local economic growth, but said the private sector “should abide by laws and run your business legally”.
His speech is among the very few directions on clean politics to be addressed to the business community, instead of cadres. Mainland law punishes bribe-taking officials heavily but in reality there are fewer convictions for paying bribes, even though the law views them as deserving the same punishment.
The central government is weighing the optimal mix of private and state firms in the nation’s economic mix. The private sector has been more effective in creating jobs and new drivers of growth, while the state-owned sector has long been plagued by inefficiency. The nation’s annual gross domestic product hit 6.9 per cent last year, the slowest in 25 years.
Xi’s remarks echoed a new directive by the country’s top prosectors’ office announced on Wednesday. It called for punishment for officials who committed crimes that “violate the legitimate rights of the non-public sector”, according to Xinhua.
The directive is aimed at building a “new model” of relations between the political and business community.
During yesterday’s speech, Xi urged the government at different levels to facilitate the implementation of policies that benefited the private sector and allowed the private sector to “feel the gain”.
Private companies have been complaining in recent years that government policies favour state-owned companies, making it difficult to compete on an uneven playing field.
