President Xi Jinping has outlined his economic strategy for China, warning bureaucrats that although it may be the world's second largest economy, it was "big but not strong", stating that China still faced "outstanding problems of unwieldiness, puffiness and weakness."
Xi also pointed out that the Achilles heel of China's macro economy was its limited innovation. He said that China's supply-side structural reform was more than an issue of taxes or tax rate, adding that it was a slew of structural measures to seek innovation, prosperity and well-being.
In a speech to principal ministerial and provincial officials made in January, he made it clear that China's economic future will be based on supply-side structural reforms, although this is not the same as the supply-side economics school in the West.
Xi stressed there will not be any Western-style supply-side economics strategy for China. The text of the speech was only published in the People's Daily on Tuesday of this week, after speculation on China's economic policies started spreading throughout the country. The South China Morning Post said that the 20,000-character transcript "was the most comprehensive elaboration of the president's thinking on the Chinese economy's past, present and future and its role in the global economy since he became the country's leader more than three years ago."
