The political idiom ‘liǎnggè háo bù dòngyáo’ means to insist on (literally, ‘unswervingly uphold’)
- bolstering and growing the state-owned economy
- encouraging and supporting private firms
First introduced in the 18th Party Congress report (2012), the two unshakable principles seek to convince the private (i.e. non-state) economy that its existence and prosperity were assured under the incoming Xi administration. Leaders and Party-aligned scholars regularly reiterate it to ease doubts felt by entrepreneurs, given the state’s recurrent market intervention and crackdowns.
In the cartoon, the big rocket, labelled ‘PRC economy’ and attended by red-suited Party officials, is supported by booster rockets labelled ‘State economy’. It is welcoming the addition of a ‘private economy’ booster, carried by civilian ‘people’. This is parsed as a case in point of ‘unswervingly upholding the Party and its socialist path’.