[The Epoch Times, November 06, 2023]He Lifeng, a close confidant of Xi Jinping, was appointed director of the Office of the Central Financial Commission (CFC) and secretary of the Central Financial Work Committee (CFWC). He had previously succeeded Liu He as director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Commission of the Communist Party of China. job. He Lifeng’s rise has attracted great attention from Western media.
The CFC is responsible for managing the daily affairs of the new regulatory agency and supervising the huge financial sector; while the CFWC is to strengthen the so-called “ideological and political” role of the Chinese Communist Party in the entire financial system.
On November 6, the Financial Times, a newspaper affiliated with the Central Bank of China, announced the appointment. Reuters pointed out that this appointment means that He Lifeng will be responsible for solving the problems of local government debt and the downturn of the real estate industry-two crises that threaten the financial stability and even political stability of the Communist Party of China.
The scale of local borrowing in China has reached a new high. Chinese Communist Party officials revealed that in the first 10 months of this year, local government bond issuance across the country reached 8.5 trillion yuan for the first time, far exceeding the 7.36 trillion yuan for the whole of last year and setting a record high.
This is mainly to alleviate the hidden debt risks of local governments. In October this year, 24 provinces issued a total of more than 1 trillion special refinancing bonds (referred to as “special bonds”). The scale of refinancing bond issuance of “borrowing new and paying back old” The new high reflects that the current economic situation is very worrying.
The real estate market is paralyzed. As Evergrande and Country Garden explode, private real estate companies are mired in debt. Although the Chinese Communist Party government has adopted a series of stimulus measures in an attempt to revive the real estate industry, which accounts for a quarter of China’s economic output, China’s troubled The housing market shows few signs of recovery in the short term.
The impending economic crises such as real estate bubbles and huge local debts have caused foreign exchange reserves to worsen. Economic experts believe that the foreign exchange reserve crisis may lead to a “national credit” crisis.
Now He Lifeng has become the top leader of the CCP’s core financial and economic staff, and is described by the outside world as the new “economic czar.” Voice of America quoted observers as saying that the CCP’s real economic czar is Xi Jinping, and He Lifeng is just the executor of Xi Jinping’s left-leaning line.
He Lifeng is considered a confidant of Xi Jinping and has played an important role in handling financial, economic and trade issues since his appointment as deputy prime minister at the Chinese Communist Party’s Two Sessions in March.
He’s relationship with Xi Jinping dates back four decades. He first worked under Xi Jinping in the coastal city of Xiamen and later in the northern municipality of Tianjin.
Editor in charge: Xu Jian
2023-11-06 11:33:26
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