Guo Jin Min Tui

Chinese expression that means: “the state advances as the private sector retreats.”

Discussing China’s economic stimulus package, Reuters’ China Economics Editor, Alan Wheatley, noted:

The increasingly common phrase guo jin min tui – the state advances, the private sector retreats – sums up which way the wind is blowing.

Wheatley speculated that if stimulus money is channeled toward larger state-owned enterprises, as seems likely, smaller private enterprises will struggle to survive the economic downturn.

In December 2008, after the Chinese government had failed to assist the privately-owned airline Okay, while providing financial assistance to China’s state-owned airlines, The Financial Times reported:

Okay’s apparent collapse and the large subsidies provided to the big three state carriers, which are expected to report combined losses of nearly Rmb 10 billion this year, has led many in the industry to whisper about a government policy known as guo jin min tui. …

Beijing has denied it intends to reassert control over large swathes of the economy, but the subsidies to large state groups are likely to have that effect in the aviation sector regardless of the intent.