Financial market could ruin Xi's 2022

 

Xi's capital market crackdown has a 2022 timeline

Beijing's crackdown on ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, just days after it went public on the New York Stock Exchange, has planted distrust among investors on Wall Street, traditionally known for their optimistic views on China.   Why would Beijing take actions that divide the U.S. and Chinese capital markets? It is hard to explain the developments from a purely economic angle.   The new directive issued by the Communist Party and the State Council oddly sets 2022 -- and not, say, 2025, the final year of the current Five-Year Plan -- as the first mile marker toward the restoration of order in the capital markets. It is clear that the whole plan has eyes set on the party's 2022 national congress, where President Xi Jinping will seek an extension of his rule.   In July 2015, China's stock market crashed, so much so that there were reports of people killing themselves. Xi's aides suspected that the sell-off was triggered by forces resisting the leader's fierce anti-corruption campaign.    Six years on, strong wariness still lingers in Xi's inner circle. It sees tech giants like Didi and Alibaba, which hold massive amounts of corporate data and personal information, as the only area outside Xi's control -- and ripe for exploitation by his political rivals.   China needs to prevent the "disorderly expansion of capital," the Communist Party has been saying for a while. All roads lead to 2022.