Struggling China Signals More Support For Private Business

China’s government is taking unusual measures in an effort to bolster the country’s struggling economy. Economic confidence has taken a pounding for a number of reasons. President Xi Jinping’s most striking pledge may be the promise of renewed support for private businesses that generate most jobs and wealth. Over the past decade, they’ve felt under attack as the ruling Communist Party built up state-owned industries, tightened control over business and pressured them to pay for its technology and industrial ambitions. Entrepreneurs and investors are waiting to see what tax, spending or other steps the ruling party might take, and if it will rein in state companies that dominate the economy.