"Common prosperity" to prove China can succeed where other countries have failed: Financial Times

LONDON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's "Common prosperity", a political agenda aimed at closing the gulf between the rich and the poor, "is about proving China can succeed where other countries have failed," reported the Financial Times on Tuesday.

Titled "Year in a word: Common prosperity," written by James Kynge, the article said that the agenda "has really come into its own this year" in China.

Designed to reduce inequality by wealth redistribution and improved welfare policies, "Common prosperity," according to the central Chinese leadership, "will be one of China's most important objectives," reported the FT.

"It signals an intention to reduce economic inequality by narrowing the country's stubbornly large gap between rich and poor," said the report, adding that Beijing has made it clear that China does not want to suffer the same widening wealth gap as seen in the United States.

"The rich and the poor in some countries are polarised with the collapse of the middle class. This has led to social disintegration, political polarisation and rampant populism," said Chinese President Xi Jinping, quoted by the FT.

Several policy initiatives have already been launched to achieve the goal of "common prosperity," such as the introduction of a property tax, which the report said is a move to make the wealthy pay more for holding valuable property assets and "give back more to society."

Meanwhile, the article said that "in another clear warning against following the West -- Xi warned against falling into 'the welfarist trap of encouraging the lazy.'"