BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping said he won’t let the world’s second-largest economy return to its days as a planned economy, pushing back against U.S. criticism that the nation has failed to deliver on promised reforms.
"We’ve come to the understanding that we should not ignore the blindness of the market, nor should we return to the old path of a planned economy, ” Xi told political advisers gathered in Beijing for their annual legislative sessions on Saturday, according to the official Xinhua news agency. He reiterated the government’s stance that markets should play a "decisive role” in the economy.
The comments come as China faces mounting pushback from the Trump administration on a range of issues from trade to its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The White House this week issued a broad critique of China’s economic and military policies in a report to Congress, including accusations of intellectual property theft and economic protectionism.
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