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.

8/28/2025|Updated: 8/28/2025

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 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.”