Political advisors urge more support for private businesses
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Chinese political advisors on Sunday called for earnest implementation of the central government's policies on encouraging and supporting the development of private businesses.
"Here I want to repeat the appeal of Chinese private businesses for lower governments and departments to earnestly implement the central government's new policies to support the private sector," said Wang Wenbiao, vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
Last May, the State Council published new rules to encourage the private sector's involvement in infrastructure, public housing, public services and financial services, in addition to the areas already open to private investment according to the rules released in 2005.
By the end of 2010, China had 42 million private and self-employed businesses, which generated the bulk of jobs and taxes in the Chinese economy, said Wang, also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
China's private sector created more than 75 percent of jobs, 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 50 percent of total tax revenue, according to Wang.
Li Yining, a renowned economist in China, said that both state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private businesses have their advantages.
"While SOEs are stronger in capital, technological capabilities and human resources, private firms are more flexible in mechanism, responsible for their own losses and profits, and more willing to take risks," said Li, also a member of the CPPCC National Committee.
"We are confident that the government will be able to implement the policies," Wang said at a press conference in response to a question about the bottlenecks facing China's private enterprises.
The call from Wang and Li came one day after Premier Wen Jiabao said in the government work report that "We will continue to encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector of the economy."
Wen, who was delivering the report at the annual parliamentary session, said: "We will strive to improve the investment structure and earnestly implement the State Council's 36 new guidelines for encouraging and guiding non-governmental investment."
"We will work quickly to formulate open and transparent standards and supporting policies on market access; effectively relax restrictions on market access; genuinely eliminate all visible and invisible barriers," Wen said.
