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BBC World News Robert Lawrence Kuhn China’s Economy & Politics President Xi’s ‘Four Comprehensives’ August 25, 2015 HOST: Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn is an advisor to the Chinese government and author of How China’s Leaders Think and he joins me now from Beijing. A cut in interest rates today - but in China any economic decision is always colored with politics. RLK: Certainly people are concerned here, but you have to realize a 43% drop in the Shanghai stock market is still 25% above its 52-week lows, so what the economists, government, tries to do is to distinguish between the so-called real economy and the stock market. Most people realize China’s stock market was overvalued, but perception is reality, and if people have less money on paper, they'll spend less, and so the fall will affect the real economy. And you're right, the way to look at such situations in China is not just economically - you can’t look at China without looking at politics, and here there are two major areas. One is President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington. This has been a very tense time in Sino-US relations: South China Sea, cybersecurity, human rights, lots of issues. But what this economic uncertainty and volatility will do - I hope - is to make both presidents focus on what really affects human beings and human lives, focus on economic areas, because this is where there can be some commonality between China and the US. The contentious issues are real, but economics is more real for people. Domestically in China, it’s really interesting, because in recent days, there have been editorials in People’s Daily talking about extreme resistance to reform and older leaders who are still involved and maybe shouldn’t be, and so you have to look at domestic politics in terms of what Xi Jinping, who is China’s dominant leader, the president of the country, head of the party, head of the military, and other titles as well, and what his overarching policy is. It’s called the “Four Comprehensives.” We learn from each one. The first says that China wants to build a ‘moderately prosperous society’. That’s their short- term goal. It’s not different than others have said in - BBS News CHINA MARKETS FALL China cuts interest rates for fifth time since Nov CHINA MARKETS FALL China stocks continue to tumble CHINA MARKETS FALL Yesterday Shanghai markets saw biggest fall in 8 years HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023696