Administrative monopolies must be ended to unleash market forces

DURING THEIR ANNUAL SESSION in Beijing last week, China's top political advisors reminded the government that reform and opening-up have achieved success over the past 40 years, and urged it to play up the decisive role of the market in economic reform. Southern Metropolis Daily comments:

For the fist time, this year's Government Work Report mentioned that market forces must be respected. Despite this, China still has a long way to go to achieve this. Administrative monopolies in particular are an obstacle to reform, and they have increasingly become a hindrance to the healthy development of industries.

The overcapacities in industries, such as steel, cement, solar power, shipbuilding and glass, in some places are the inevitable consequence of local governments' blind support of State-owned enterprises in a bid to beautify the economic data by boosting the productivity of local companies.