China’s recent slowdown in GDP growth is unsettling global markets and exercising the Communist party leadership ahead of President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Donald Trump of the US at the G20 summit. Beijing is determined to keep its economy stable, but doing so means tackling the politically sensitive issue of its private sector.

Private enterprises are China’s economic mainstay, contributing about two-thirds of output and investment and the lion’s share of jobs. They drive the prosperity upon which the Communist party’s legitimacy rests. Yet Mr Xi has favoured state-owned firms since he took power in 2012, and clipped the wings of several high-flying private entrepreneurs.

Now, as Beijing seeks to stiffen its resolve in the US-China trade war, the private sector’s dynamism is flagging, creating economic headwinds. Third-quarter GDP growth slipped to 6.5 per cent, year on year, its slowest since 2009. While this is by no means lacklustre, there are signs momentum could slacken further.