Thinking About China
Opinion

Can China’s Xi Keep His Promises of Support to Businesses?

Xi Jinping has promised support for private businesses and fair treatment, but many nonetheless remain skeptical and cautious.
Can China’s Xi Keep His Promises of Support to Businesses?
Women work at a bag manufacturing plant in Linhuan Town, Anhui Province, China, on Aug. 21, 2025. AFP stringer/AFP via Getty Images
Milton Ezrati
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Commentary

Chinese businesspeople have good reason to harbor mixed feelings about Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s recent encouragement and promises of support. The only just-released text of an important speech he gave to select business leaders in February contains fulsome promises and a willingness to correct past failures.

Milton Ezrati
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is "Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live."