Since the late 1970s, the Chinese Communist Party’s embrace of market reforms has coexisted uneasily with its insistence on political and state control. These tensions—between state authority and market forces—have shaped China’s economic trajectory for decades and have become even more pronounced under Xi Jinping.
In a conversation recorded in December 2025, PIP Fellows Wendy Leutert and Nicholas Borst discuss Borst’s book, The Bird and the Cage: China’s Economic Contradictions. Borst explores how enduring contradictions within China’s political economy help explain recent efforts to tighten control over the private sector, finance, and industrial policy. The discussion examines what these dynamics mean for China’s future growth, economic governance, and its trade and economic relationships with the rest of the world.
