China promises two-way reform
Print Edition
CHINA’S top planning official yesterday reassured foreign companies that they remain welcome in its slower but more sustainable economy.
Speaking to an audience that included executives of top global companies at a government-organized conference in Beijing, Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Reform and Development Commission, pledged to “promote two-way opening up and liberalization.”
He promised foreign companies equal treatment with local firms as China carries out a sweeping overhaul aimed at promoting self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption and making state companies that dominate a range of industries more competitive and efficient.
“We are ready to share these growth opportunities with you,” he said.
The China Development Forum 2016 is being closely watched by global companies because it comes at the start of the nation’s latest five-year development plan that runs through 2020.
Executives are eager to learn details of how the government might carry out pledges to make the economy more competitive, open more industries to private and possibly foreign competitors, and to shrink bloated, money-losing industries including coal, steel and cement.
The guest list for the weekend conference at a government guesthouse in the Chinese capital included executives of United States, European and Asian banks, manufacturers, Internet and other companies.
The new five-year plan promises to give the private sector a bigger economic role.
Xu did not announce any new initiatives, but vowed to make “markets more open, more efficient and more sustainable.”
He also promised to reduce “regional and industrial monopolies,” a reference to repeated pledges to cut back the dominance of state companies in industries including banking, energy and telecoms that some experts complain are a “drag on the economy.”
Last year’s economic growth dropped to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent and forecasters including the International Monetary Fund have said it will fall further. This year’s official target is 6.5 to 7 percent, but the IMF and others have said it is more likely to be about 6.3 percent.
China wants to promote new growth drivers and encourage innovation in areas such as clean energy, medical technology and artificial intelligence, Xu said.
He also promised to “lower the threshold” for entrepreneurs to get into promising new fields.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
