Reform and opening-up embarks on new economic journey
By He Dingding, People’s Daily
Where will China’s economy go in the next year? How will the country cope with the unbalanced and inadequate domestic development and the changes of external environment?
These issues are of great concerns as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as well as a decisive year in achieving the first centenary goal of building China into a moderately prosperous society.
The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting several days earlier, outlining the country’s economic work in 2019.
The meeting stressed that changes in the international environment and domestic conditions should be looked at dialectically. It also called for moves to advance high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, strengthen domestic market, and improve people’s wellbeing.
By making unswerving efforts to deepen reform and expand opening-up, China is improving the institutional and policy environment for high-quality development.
The past 40 years of experience in reform and opening-up proves that economic development provides confidence. Recently, the stability of employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and market expectations have been reiterated.
By prioritizing stability in institutional design and policy implementation, and ensuring the steady progress of each indicator of economic and social development, China has reassured its people.
China owns a domestic market with huge potential, which allows it steady economic growth and strong confidence despite the new challenges and changes of external environment the country is facing. About 1.882 billion parcels were delivered during this year’s “Double 11” shopping spree, indicating China’s strength of new economy.
The rural vitalization strategy brings historical opportunities for the country to address inadequate construction of rural infrastructure. The supply-side structural reform conforms to people’s aspiration for a better life. The consumption upgrade will create new economic growth points.
To some extent, the process to guide the unbalanced and inadequate development toward balance and adequacy is also a process to foster strong domestic market and comprehensively improve national economy. Looking into the future, China enjoys bright prospects.
The Political Bureau meeting also stressed that China should continue to stimulate the vitality of micro entities.
An economist once described China’s economy in the past decade as “big fish in a vast lake”, which respectively suggested the booming size of Chinese market entities and the exploding volume of Chinese economy, two indicators assessing the performance of national economy.
By March 2018, the number of market entities in China has surpassed 100 million. It is a result of the country’s reform and opening-up in the past 40 years, an engine for further economic growth, and a barometer of the country’s economy.
Governments at all levels have vowed strong support for private enterprises and rolled out a series of concrete measures to implement the spirit of a November symposium on private enterprises presided by Chinese President Xi Jinping, also the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
The enterprises will embrace innovative impetus and speed up fostering new drives for development as long as their vitality is unleashed. They will feel less restricted to start and run their businesses and make more profits. Consequently, the sense of gain, happiness, and safety will be greatly improved.
The vitality also comes from an effective market and a government that works well, which is inseparable from the deepening of the market-oriented reform and the expansion of opening-up at a higher level.
Next year, the country will deepen reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve regulation and services, further lower market threshold, push for fair competition among various market entities, and try to make financing easier and less expensive for private companies.
It will also trim foreign investment negative list, lower tariffs, and build a first-class business environment in the world. The abovementioned efforts will form a highlight of the new round of opening-up at a higher level. The combination of reform and opening-up will serve as a strong force to help the country make more miracles.
