Xi Focus: Think tank report expounds on China's financial development path

BEIJING -- A report released on Thursday traces Xi Jinping's exploration of the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics when he worked in East China's Fujian province, and also reveals how the Chinese practices can contribute to the world by inspiring other countries in terms of financial governance.

Titled "Exploring Financial Development with Chinese Characteristics: Xi Jinping's Practices in Fujian," the report reviews the original concepts and transformative practices on financial work initiated by Xi during his over 17 years of working in Fujian, elaborates on the theoretical foundations and defining features of the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, and reveals Chinese solutions and wisdom for global financial development and governance.

The report, consisting of three chapters, was released in Beijing by Xinhua Institute, a national high-level think tank of Xinhua News Agency.

The report states that Xi's discourses and practices on finance during his tenure in Fujian are systematic, profound and fruitful, while adding that they are consistent with his remarks on financial work in both theoretical and practical logic since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012 — the year Xi was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

From June 1985 to October 2002, Xi held posts in Xiamen, Ningde, Fuzhou, and with the Fujian provincial Party committee and provincial government.

"His evidence-based research and fieldwork enabled pioneering innovations in financial policy and practice that are highly forward-looking, groundbreaking and strategic, establishing rich and valuable legacy for China's financial development," says the report, which also provides six cases that document Xi's financial governance footprint in Fujian.

These cases illustrate Xi's efforts spanning financial system reform, poverty alleviation via financial tools, forestalling and defusing financial risks, supporting the real economy and local development, unlocking capital flows through local forestry reform, and supporting the development of Industrial Bank, one of China's first batch of joint-stock commercial banks.

As sources of vitality and important guidance for the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, Xi's discourses and practices have significant theoretical and practical value that transcends time and space, the report says.

According to the report, the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics follows the objective laws of modern finance while embodying distinct features suited to China's national conditions.

The report analyzes the salient features of this path through three dimensions: the integration of political leadership and professional guidance, the coordinated advancement of efficiency and fairness, and the dynamic balance between autonomy and openness.

For instance, elaborating on the first feature, the report says that China's socialist market economy has consistently upheld the principle of properly handling government-market relations. It is a principle that also guides financial work.

From advancing interest rate liberalization to innovating and improving macroeconomic regulation, from curbing disorderly capital expansion to prioritizing financial services for the real economy, and from deepening financial supply-side structural reforms to establishing macro-prudential policy frameworks, all these reflect the CPC Central Committee's deep understanding of financial principles and professional governance of the financial sector, it says.

According to the report, the essential significance of China's characterized path of financial development lies in charting an institutionalized course toward "finance for the good of all" by reconstructing a new type of contractual relationship between finance and society.

The most profound inspiration for other countries from China's financial governance model lies in its triple paradigmatic transformations in financial governance achieved by integrating the institutional advantages of Party leadership and market mechanisms, it says.

It summarizes the three transformations as transforming finance from a speculative "money game" into a "blood supply system" that supports the real economy; from a "wealth-concentrating tool" for the privileged few into an inclusive "resource allocation hub" that drives shared prosperity; and from a "source of systemic volatility" into a "shock absorber" that safeguards financial stability.

"This Chinese wisdom shows that when finance is effectively embedded in the national governance framework, its potential to serve the common values of humanity can be greatly unleashed," the report says.

China's distinctive path of financial development has underpinned China's great national rejuvenation with robust financial strength. "With the Eastern philosophy of harmonious coexistence and the unity of the greater good and shared benefits, China contributes its approach to global financial governance," the report concludes.