critics say chinas xi has not lived up to promises of economic reform creditgreg bakeragence francepresse getty imagesmarch 4 2017beijing for years chinas president xi jinping has talked the talk of economic reform in january he dazzled business executives in davos switzerland with a defense of international trade last month he urged officials to seize hold of reform and make it an even bigger priority and the annual meeting of chinas legislature starting sunday appears sure to echo that themebut as mr xi nears the end of his first fiveyear term as communist party leader his record has not lived up to the bold statements critics saythe question now is whether he was ever really serious about taking the painful steps needed to repair the economy or merely paying lip service to reform to justify his tightening grip on powermr xis defenders argue that he had to consolidate his authority first before he could make the potentially wrenching decisions needed to open markets and trim bloated stateowned industries with weak growth in the rest of the world and demand for chinas exports flagging they contend there was little margin for error and caution was warrantedthe proof will be in the second term they say when mr xi finally has the power to push through difficult economic adjustmentsmr xi is already chinas most powerful leader in decades he has repeatedly used his authority though to undercut reforms he says are necessary ordering heavyhanded intervention in the stock market for example and restrictions on the movement of money abroad and property pricesimagecreditagence francepresse getty imagesthe problem critics say is that mr xis demands for centralized control stability and political conformity have often drowned out hesitant steps toward economic liberalization and his second term is likely to bring more of the same they sayim highly skeptical since i dont think its a lack of authority or the opposition of special interests that have kept him from moving in that direction so far said scott kennedy the director of the project on chinese business and political economy at the center for strategic and international studies in washington rather hes operated according to his instincts in the face of economic challenges and i dont expect his instincts or those challenges to change muchmany economists executives and policy advisers in beijing do not disguise their disappointment about what has happened to mr xis promises of an audacious overhaul of the economyin 2013 he and his premier li keqiang laid out big plans to give markets and entrepreneurs more room to grow the market would play a decisive role in allocating resources mr xi declaredwu jinglian one of chinas most prominent economists said at a recent meeting in beijing that the direction of reform laid out in these documents is clear and the measures are right but the problem has been implementationputting it relatively tactfully he continued it hasnt been vigorous enougheconomists abroad have been less tactfulimagecreditjohannes eiseleagence francepresse getty imagesvirtually across the board china is falling