China and Economic Reform: Xi Jinping’s Track Record
Reforms: China made limited moves to allow foreigners to trade more extensively in the bond market, hedge their currency risk
and connect its stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong, which has long served as China’s financial gateway to the rest of the world.
Banks continue to roll over loans to troubled borrowers
and extend huge loans to politically connected borrowers, including influential private companies as well as state-owned enterprises.
Lingering problems: Rural migrants still have little hope of gaining residency in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
Opening up money flows led so many Chinese families and companies to send their money out of the country
that the renminbi weakened against the dollar and the Chinese government had to spend nearly $1 trillion to prop it up.
While Chinese officials had hoped that the private partners would force local governments to make wiser
and more cautious investments, the initial "private" partners have tended to be state-owned enterprises, which typically share local governments’ interest in borrowing heavily to create jobs.
Reforms: Faced with a shrinking labor force and a population
that is rapidly graying, Mr. Xi ended China’s notorious one-child policy, with its fines and forced abortions, and his government has even begun mulling whether to offer incentives for families to have a second child.