Reform, opening-up key to development

Pragmatic actions

Restoring market confidence and stabilizing development expectations depend on pragmatic actions to deepen reform. This requires not only further deepening market-oriented reforms to unleash the vitality of the private sector, but also structural reform to unleash the potential of economic growth.

China should take practical measures to deepen market-oriented reform to revitalize market players. With 1.4 billion people, more than 400 million middle-income earners, and 170 million market players, China boasts the world's largest consumer market with the greatest potential.

The current weakening of development expectations has become an important factor behind the lack of vitality of market players. To boost market confidence and the morale of market players, especially private enterprises, it is necessary to firmly stick to the policy of working unswervingly to consolidate and develop the public sector and to encourage, support and guide development of the nonpublic sector, something that has been repeatedly emphasized by the top leadership.

The business environment should be optimized with a focus on strictly defining government regulatory behavior.

To implement the requirements by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to deepen market-oriented reform of allocation of production factors and build a high-standard market economy and a unified national market, the core is to regulate government behavior and create an open, fair and just market environment to promote competition.

Today, China faces profound and complex changes on both the international and domestic fronts as it comprehensively deepens reform and promotes opening-up. Therefore, we must strengthen our confidence and build consensus on reform, enhance expectations for supporting reform and, with greater courage, make important breakthroughs in this respect.

To deepen reform, the country must proactively tackle the challenge of adjusting the needs of different interest groups.

Previous reforms have benefited a majority of the people. Today, deepening reform means policymakers must address the needs of various interest groups, which is the "hard bone" of reform.

To deepen reform, the question of how to act to achieve proper adjustments for various interest groups must be answered. Reform needs courage and action. It is urgent to stop formalism featuring, for example, chanting slogans, and refrain from using paperwork to avoid practical work, or reform only through the issuing of documents.

In short, making important breakthroughs in deepening reform calls for more "reform doers" and bolder and more pragmatic actions.

According to the strategic plan of comprehensively deepening reform issued by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013, important progress and breakthroughs have been made in some reforms in the past 10 years. Yet, at the same time, more substantive progress needs to be made.