SCIO briefing on China's efforts to accomplish economic and social development goals for 2020
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 27, 2020
Xinhua:
At the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, it was proposed that timely action must be taken to drive reform, and problems in China's development should be solved through reforms. My questions are: What is China's economic reform focused on, and what kind of reforms will the NDRC roll out? Thank you.
Zhao Chenxin:
Thank you for your questions. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the more severe and complex the developmental environment is, the more important it is to deepen reform, improve institutions, improve the governance system, and make good use of institutional strengths to respond to risks and challenges. I think many friends concerned with the reform, such as this journalist, have noticed two important documents on reform issued by the State Council in April and May. One was the guideline on improving the market-based allocation mechanism of production factors, which was issued on April 9. The other one is the guideline to accelerate the improvement of the socialist market economy in the new era that was issued on May 11. These two very important documents were issued at the right moment, which evoked a favorable response. I believe that these two documents illustrate that reforms are under way and are being deepened unswervingly.
You are concerned about the focus of this year's reform of the economic system and major measures. I think that the focus of reforms has been detailed in the documents. Regarding the measures, I will summarize them in "four focuses" and give a brief introduction here.
First, the high-standard market system will be promoted and encouraged to build. We will construct a more complete market-based allocation mechanism of production factors. This is a great target. Comprehensive reform pilot projects will be launched, and policies will be set to speed up the cultivation of a data factor market and attract enterprises of different ownerships to take part in building marketplaces for factor trade. This year, we will reform methods of land planning and management, and the provincial-level governments will be given more autonomy over land use. In addition, we will revise the negative list on market access and issue the 2020 version. The list will focus on the service sector, and pilots will be run to relax the restrictions on market access and remove hidden barriers.
Second, improve the quality and efficiency of the reform of state-owned asset and SOEs. This year, we will formulate guidelines on optimizing the distribution and structuring readjustment of the state-owned economy, and we will push forward 210 mixed-ownership reform pilots. With respect to mixed-ownership enterprises, a governance mechanism and regulatory mechanism that are different from those of common state-owned enterprises should be explored, and we must make efforts to gain experience that can be copied and popularized. We will research and formulate the guidelines of deepening the mixed-ownership reform of SOEs and upgrade the related policies to give better guidance and enable the mixed-ownership reform to better play the role of a breakthrough and feature prominently in the reform of state-owned asset and SOEs.
Third, we will work to improve the environment for the development of the private sector. First of all, we will carefully implement concrete measures in supporting the development of the private sector in fields such as transportation infrastructure and manufacturing, open up competitive aspects in sectors of power, telecommunications, railways, oil and gas, so as to attract more private capital to participate in project operation and construction in these fields. We will also comprehensively implement business environment regulations and clean up unreasonable discriminatory regulations and practices concerning different types of the enterprises. In addition, we will also work to form a new type of cordial and clean relationship between government and business, and improve the mechanism for entrepreneurs to participate in the formulation of enterprise related policies. We will also make great efforts to solve practical difficulties for private businesses.
Fourth, we will strive to improve the system and mechanism of basic public services. This year, we will promote the introduction of the national standard system for basic public services, through which we can make clear the scope of the basic public services governments at different levels should guarantee, especially making clear the bottom line. This year, the impact brought by the epidemic and the experiences we gained from fighting it, created opportunities for precious thinking. We need to let local governments at all levels know the key point of ensuring basic people's livelihood, and to what extent it should be ensured. We must benchmark the national standard so as to make up for any deficiencies and optimize resource allocation, so as to put the limited capital and resources available into the areas of most concern and most needed by the people.
In addition to the aforementioned four aspects, we will also launch reforms in other areas, including the regulation and control of the price of commodities concerning people's livelihood and green development. In short, to reform is the requirement of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee. It represents the shared aspiration of all peoples and is the trend of the times. The NDRC will, together with relevant departments, unswervingly deepen the reform of the economic system, and meet the expectations of the people. Thank you.
Hu Kaihong:
This concludes today's press conference. Thank you, speakers. Thank you all.
Translated and edited by Zhu Bochen, Wang Qian, Wang Yiming, Li Huiru, Wu Jin, Zhang Junmian, Qin Qi, Fan Junmei, Liu Qiang, Zhang Jiaqi, Huang Shan, Gong Yingchun, Zhou Jing, Li Xiao, He Shan, Zhang Tingting, Wang Yanfang, Zhang Lulu, Zhang Rui, Yang Xi, Laura Zheng, Jay Birbeck, David Ball, Geoffrey Murray, Scott Rainen. In case of any dispute over a discrepancy, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.
