China’s Third Plenum: Without efforts to revive market confidence, Beijing’s broader reform agenda could falter.

In the days ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s long-delayed Third Plenum, few observers expect that the reform announcements will be enough to revive confidence in the economy. Instead, most expect more of the same: a focus on Party centralization, national security, technology-led development, and skepticism toward foreign businesses. This is despite the fact that China’s economy continues to struggle with a propertydownturn, weak consumer and business sentiment, distressed local government finances, and subdued foreign direct investment. Many assume that a turn away from Xi Jinping’s “comprehensive” reform agenda could occur only alongside a diminution in his political centrality. Therefore, major market-oriented reforms are unlikely.

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