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 A key economic decision-making meeting on Tuesday turned the spotlight on financial risk prevention amid China's pursuit of common prosperity.

The meeting stressed efforts to promote common prosperity in the pursuit of high-quality development and coordinate work to forestall major financial risks, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The tenth meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs heard reports from relevant departments on the advance towards common prosperity as well as in forestalling major financial risks and stabilizing financial development. 

China will improve the level of digital and intelligent supervision and it is necessary to strengthen the construction of financial laws and infrastructure, deepen the construction of a credit system, and boost the basic role of credit in financial risk identification, monitoring, management and disposal.

Common prosperity is an essential requirement of socialism and a key feature of Chinese-style modernization, said the meeting, calling for adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and promoting common prosperity while pursuing high-quality development.

Noting that finance is the core of modern economy, the meeting stressed that efforts to fend off major financial risks should be coordinated in line with market principles and the rule of law.

The country will aim for a more balanced, coordinated and tolerant development, improve the socialist market economy and support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, read a statement after the meeting, according to Xinhua.

Efforts will be in the pipeline to expand the middle class  and push for more low-income people to climb up into of middle income class, the meeting said, calling for tougher regulation of high income earners. While legitimate income would be protected by the law, excessive income will be subject to reasonable regulation as the country encourages high-earning people and companies to play a bigger part in paying back to the society.

In January, China called for efforts to promote various areas such as employment, education, healthcare and housing to reach the goal of common prosperity.

A white paper issued in April fully demonstrated the beginning phase of China's pursuit of common prosperity: poverty alleviation.

A total of 98.99 million rural residents, from 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 poor villages, have been lifted out of poverty. The per capita disposable income of the rural poor increased from 6,079 yuan ($927) in 2013 to 12,588 yuan in 2020, an average annual growth rate of 11.6 percent.

Global Times