China doubles down on private sector onslaught

China’s top regulators have defended their intensifying clampdown on several industries of the country’s economy at a meeting with Wall Street executives.

The vice chair of the China Securities Regulatory Commission told leaders of some of the US’s largest companies that its crackdown of consumer-facing and tech businesses was intended to improve data privacy and national security, not to clip the wings of the private sector.

Technology and education firms have faced mounting regulatory scrutiny from Chinese authorities recently, while President Xi Jinping has launched an assault on rich people to create “common prosperity” in China.

Global investors have been spooked by a ramping up of regulatory oversight in the country. Billions of dollars in profits are at stake for Wall Street’s largest firms, which have expanded rapidly in China as the country has opened up its financial markets.