At the outset of his presidency, Xi Jinping billed himself as a transformative leader in the mould of Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese strongman who set the country’s economic rise in motion in the 1980s. Now Mr Xi is turning to two more political giants of that decade — Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher — for inspiration as he seeks a “supply-side” revolution for China’s economy.

Like the late US president and UK prime minister, Mr Xi and Li Keqiang, his premier, want to reduce taxes and red tape for businesses as they seek to cushion the decline of heavy industry with the rise of the consumer and service sectors.

Yesterday China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported further progress in this direction as it unveiled 2015 economic growth of 6.9 per cent, in line with the government’s full-year target.