When Li Keqiang met the press for the first time as Chinese premier in 2013, he compared reducing government power to “cutting one’s own wrist”. He wished to demonstrate his resolve to drastically scale back the role played by the state in economic affairs.

Countries worldwide have struggled to reduce the power of government officials and China is no exception.

Since the beginning of this century, Chinese bureaucrats have been an obstacle to reform. In the three years since Mr Li took office, far from government involvement in the economy decreasing, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been getting even bigger. Guidelines on “separating government functions from enterprises” have been watered down and the role of the Chinese Communist party in the daily management of SOEs is greater than at any time in the past three decades.