When America sneezes, the world catches a cold. So goes the saying. Now, as China embarks on what could be its most far-reaching economic shift in decades, the world is bracing for a test of just how true that aphorism will prove for its second-largest economy and biggest trader.
In an August speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored his intentions to refocus the country’s economic priorities towards what he describes as “common prosperity.” The phrase, which has since become a ubiquitous slogan in Chinese Communist Party statements and in reports published by state media, broadly refers to a potentially transformative effort to tackle deep-rooted income inequality after chasing breakneck growth for four decades.
