East China city, Zhejiang port hub both turn into private economy exemplars

Jinjiang of Fujian province has been taking the lead in economic growth among county-level cities in China with its thriving private economy, and some other urban areas plan to draw on the experiences of Jinjiang to further expand their respective nonpublic economies.

Over the years, under the guidance of the "Jinjiang Experience" — an important exemplar of private sector development — the city has blazed a path of county-level regional development supported by the real economy.

Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province was one of the birthplaces of the private economy in China. Over the past three years, the annual scale of private investment in the harbor city has exceeded 200 billion yuan ($27.8 billion), accounting for nearly 60 percent of total social investment, according to the local government.

The city will continuously optimize its business environment and comprehensively expand investment channels for private enterprises, it said.

"We have created a globally competitive advanced manufacturing base in Wenzhou, built the city as the capital of China's fashion industry, and developed it as a new mecca for strategic emerging industries," said Li Wuwen, vice-mayor of Wenzhou.

"We will help protect the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises, and strive to create a national demonstration zone for the innovative development of the private economy," Li said.

Over the past two years, total investment in new energy projects signed and implemented in Wenzhou has exceeded 460 billion yuan, creating a complete industrial chain of nuclear, solar, water and hydrogen power in the city, according to the local government.

In addition, Shenzhen of Guangdong province — one of the cities with the most vibrant private economy and concentrated nonpublic enterprises in China — said it has long taken innovation as a driving force for growth.

Over the past four decades since reform and opening-up, Shenzhen has transformed itself from a small fishing village into a modern metropolis, and it is still pioneering China's development as a reform and opening-up model.

The local government of Shenzhen said the "Jinjiang Experience "has been a brilliant microcosm of the development of China's private economy, and Shenzhen has achieved resonance with the experience.

Meanwhile, Southwest China's Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, said the "Jinjiang Experience "has strong practical guidance for the city to promote its high-quality development of the private economy.

As of the third quarter of 2023, the added value of the private economy in Chengdu accounted for 50.1 percent of the local GDP, and contributed 62.5 percent of total fiscal revenue, according to the local government.

"To develop a high-quality private economy, it is necessary to respect the innovative spirit of private enterprises, and enhance the innovative vitality and motivation of entrepreneurs," said Liu Xiaoliu, executive vice-mayor of Chengdu.

The local government has encouraged private enterprises to actively get involved in business opportunities emerging from the Belt and Road Initiative. So far, Chengdu has more than 3,600 enterprises engaged in the import and export business related to BRI markets.

In addition, local private enterprises have been encouraged to participate in major national projects, such as the building of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. The local government regularly promotes major engineering projects and key industrial projects to private enterprises, it added.

Thanks to a range of policies aimed at boosting domestic demand, fostering confidence and supporting the private economy, Chinese business entities have experienced a more robust growth momentum.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic regulator, established the Bureau of Private Economic Development in September 2023. It said the country's private economy has shown long-term growth prospects with unlimited opportunities.

China will strengthen analysis of the private economy's development and improve work mechanisms with a view to better serve the private economy's development, the NDRC said.