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Investor fears about Xi's new leadership team 'may be misguided'

Li Qiang, likely to become the next premier, is pictured here speaking at a major annual financial conference in Shanghai in 2020.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BEIJING — Chinese stocks' plunge on Monday over fears about China's new leadership team "may be misguided," consulting firm Teneo said.

Chinese stocks in Hong Kong and New York, especially internet tech giants such as Alibaba, dropped on the first trading day after Chinese President Xi Jinping cemented his firm grip on power with a new core leadership team filled with his loyalists.

Over the last several years, Xi has shown a preference for greater state involvement in the economy.

"Close relationships with Xi notwithstanding, Li Qiang, Li Xi, and Cai Qi all enter the [Politburo standing committee] after heading up rich provinces where economic growth is still the top priority," Teneo Managing Director Gabriel Wildau and a team said in a note.

Xi's leadership team

In our view, the completion of the [party congress] will enable the top leadership to move on to the next policy agenda soon — relaxing the Covid curbs.
Bank of America

"Though He lacks Liu's technocratic expertise, He's record also suggests a strong focus on economic growth," the report said. "In an article last year, He wrote that economic development was the 'number one task' and the foundation and key to solving all our country's problems.'"

Xi's speech at the opening of the Chinese Communist Party's 20th National Congress this month emphasized that China will focus on "high-quality development" and "modernization" in the coming years.

Common prosperity — moderate wealth for all, rather than just a few — is a requirement for that modernization, Xi said.

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Analysts have said China's renewed pursuit of common prosperity contributed to Beijing's recent crackdown on internet tech giants.

Chinese officials have signaled that the crackdown is nearing an end. In July, a Politburo meeting readout said officials called for the continued "healthy"; development of the "platform economy" and "completing" the businesses' adjustments.

China's Covid policy

"In our view, the completion of the [party congress] will enable the top leadership to move on to the next policy agenda soon — relaxing the Covid curbs," the report said.

The analysts said some might worry about the new group of leaders' lack of checks and balances, and the risk of policy mistakes that shock the economy.

But they added that the group's solidarity "may lead to more effective policy execution" for the country overall.

— CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/25/investor-fears-about-xis-new-leadership-team-may-be-misguided.html


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