BEIJING: China's ruling Communist Party is demanding a show of greater loyalty from the sprawling private sector as the world's second-largest economy grapples with growing external risks, from open US hostility to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years, the party has sought to tighten its grip on private businesses, by taking stakes in non-state enterprises or installing officials in large firms, even as President Xi Jinping repeatedly pledged to back the sector key to growth and jobs.