Xi Jinping: more control on private companies - Paul Gillis

Paul Gillis

China is bringing more of its private companies to heel, both domestically and their international investments. Peking University accounting professor Paul Gillis sees it as an effort by president Xi Jinping to consolidate its power, he tells the VOA.

The VOA:

China is probing the loan practices of a group of big private sector conglomerates who have been on a high-profile global spending spree over the past few years. And although the review targets only a few of the country’s most politically-connected companies, some analysts see an attempt to increase government control over the role played by the private sector in foreign markets. 

"I think this is an attempt to change the direction (of) the role these Chinese companies play in the Chinese economy," says Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management. "To align them more closely with the policies of the government and to reduce the risks that actions of these private companies could end up having a shock effect on the economy as a whole."... 

Peking University's Gillis says it appears the Chinese government is coming to terms with how to effectively regulate private enterprises, companies that behave more aggressively than their state-owned counterparts. But he also sees the move as a further consolidation of power by President Xi Jinping, bringing companies more under the control of the central government. 

"I think many of the companies had a pretty favorable treatment from prior administrations, and I think Xi Jinping is less enamored of these large private companies than some of his predecessors were." 

Expensive acquisitions by companies like Wanda and Anbang have thrust China into the global spotlight. But the news and commentary that followed the companies' mega-deals has not always been positive.

More in the VOA.

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