China’s Xi Jinping calls for support of state, private sectors

“We will reinforce the development of the state economy while guiding the development of the non-state economy,” Xi said in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

“Opening brings progress while closure leads to backwardness,” he added.

Xi’s speech comes amid mounting pressure to accelerate reforms and improve market access for foreign companies as a bitter trade war with the United States weighs on the Chinese economy.

China’s heavy support of its sprawling state sector has been a point of contention with the United States.

The trade war has spurred some Chinese entrepreneurs, government advisers and think tanks to call for faster economic reforms and the freeing up of a private sector stifled by state controls and struggling to gain access to credit.

Xi and US President Donald Trump agreed this month to a 90-day truce in the trade dispute, which halted the threatened escalation of punitive tariffs while the two sides continue negotiations.