Private companies have the advantage in digital economy

Editor's note: China's decision-makers should realize the potential of private enterprises, comments Wu Xiaobo, a columnist, in a post. Excerpts:

The 40 years of reform and opening-up are the history of the private economy in modern China. In 1981, the official discourse termed the market economy as subsidiary to the planned economy. In 1988, the private economy was recognized as "accounting for half the national economy", and the term "entrepreneur" appeared in the official discourse for the first time. In 1992, China set the goal of establishing a "socialist market economy" for the first time.

Two decades ago, the State-owned enterprises controlled the industrial foundations of the national economy, including electricity, energy, telecommunications and transport. But nowadays, private enterprises dominate the new pillars of the economy - e-commerce, mobile payments, real estate and logistics.