President Xi Jinping's "Common Prosperity" campaign aims to advance China’s economic status by diminishing poverty lines and middle-income traps with its wealth program distribution proposal.
“The common prosperity campaign is most significantly a political—in fact, a populist— strategy to revitalize the roots of communist ideology in China,” Author Guoguan Wu wrote in his paper. “It is intended to bolster the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy and internally justify a series of policies and since Xi came to power, prominently including anti-corruption campaigns, limiting the power of big private business players and further promoting the state sector—all aimed at strengthening Xi’s personal authority within the party-state and over Chinese society.”
The report, titled "China's Common Prosperity Program: Causes, Challenges and Implications,” hopes to target income inequalities among social groups, urban-rural inequalities and regional disparities. It raises questions about the true intentions of Jinping’s campaign and the promotion of the Communist Party, the specifics surrounding the policies and practices that have been implemented and proposed and how effective the development efforts could be for the philanthropic and non-government sectors in China.
In promoting the program, President Xi Jinping stated that China has entered a “historic phase to sturdily promote common prosperity,” Wu wrote in his paper. Wu is a professor, author and political expert.
The "Common Prosperity" campaign hopes to steer some of the wealth away from China's billionaire class and tech companies. Part of the efforts made by the organization are new anti-monopoly regulations, deployed with the intention of reducing the market power retained by local tech companies.
Wu said the populist strategy aimed at reinforcing China's communist ideology, justifies Xi's and the CCP's policies toward anti-corruption, checking the power and influence of the Chinese business community, and promoting state sponsored programs.
The report claims that the campaign is China's answer to Western liberal-democratic capitalism; to prove that the "China Model" is more advantageous and superior in global politics.
China hopes to ultimately become a middle-income nation by eliminating absolute poverty, but will also remain cautious to avoid creating macroeconomic stagnation. Wu said he believes the strategy will strengthen Xi's authority within the party-state and over Chinese society.
"Why has Xi so urgently and emphatically advocated for common prosperity during the past two years and what are his and the Chinese Communist Party's true motivation and goals behind the policy that was started in early 2021?” Wu asked.