Private sector essential driver of development

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China reiterated that the country should optimize the business environment for private enterprises, protect the rights and interests of entrepreneurs according to the law, and promote the development of the private sector.

Reviewing the course of China's reform and opening-up over the past more than 40 years, the importance of the private economy cannot be exaggerated. It now contributes more than 50 percent of tax revenue, 60 percent of gross domestic product, 70 percent of technological innovation and 80 percent of urban employment on the Chinese mainland. The large number of private entrepreneurs and privately-owned businesses are the main source of China's economic vitality.

Protecting the property rights of private enterprises and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs according to the law is not only an important part of the socialist market economy, but also an inevitable requirement for a society under the rule of law. The better private enterprises are protected, the more regulated the market environment will be and the more vibrant the market economy will be.

Over the past decade, the central government has repeatedly stressed the protection of the rights and interests of private enterprises and entrepreneurs in accordance with the law, emphasizing that "private entrepreneurs are our own people", and explicitly underscoring that the personal and property safety of entrepreneurs must be protected. Since then, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have also expressed judicial guarantees for the rights and interests of private enterprises and entrepreneurs.

Faced with the dual impacts of the pandemic and the worsening international economic environment, many private enterprises are facing a difficult situation, and some of them have had to shut down or reduce production. At present, it is crucial and necessary for the central authorities to stabilize the confidence of private enterprises and give entrepreneurs a full sense of security.

That the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a regulation on promoting the development of privately-owned businesses on Tuesday showed the government will continue to play its part in supporting the healthy development of the non-public sector.