Xi stresses stronger anti-monopoly efforts

Meeting also calls for stricter measures, greater intensity in nation's pollution fight

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, called on Monday for stronger anti-monopoly efforts and further enforcement of fair competition policies to create more room for growth of smaller companies and better protect consumer rights.

Speaking at a meeting of the Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform, Xi, who is head of the committee, highlighted the importance of creating a market environment of fair competition as the nation fosters a new development paradigm, pushes forward high-quality development and promotes common prosperity.

Policymakers reviewed and adopted four policy documents at the meeting, including one to step up antitrust efforts, a guideline to move forward the battle against pollution, and a guideline for bolstering the nation's strategic and emergency response reserves.

In enhancing the nation's antitrust efforts, the meeting called for parallel efforts in supervising, standardizing the behavior of, and promoting the growth of businesses, with measures to make clear the rules as well as what is and is not permitted.

Businesses will be urged to follow the Party's leadership and encouraged to be proactive in spurring scientific and technological progress, enabling the blossoming of the market economy, making people's lives easier and competing globally, policymakers said.

They pledged quicker strides in improving the market access mechanism, the review mechanism for fair competition, the oversight system for fair competition in the digital economy sector, and the mechanism that prevents or stops administrative behavior that excludes or limits competition.

The nation will unwaveringly push forward high-level opening-up, protect property rights and intellectual property rights and increase the transparency and the predictability of policies, they said.

The meeting also required accelerated steps in establishing an all-around, tiered and multidimensional oversight system to enable across-the-board supervision and to close loopholes and improve the efficiency of supervision.

The nation will prioritize the platform economy, scientific and technological innovation, information security and the ensuring of public well-being in law enforcement efforts, with measures to improve the antitrust system and reinforce the strength of oversight bodies, the policymakers said.

The meeting called for unrelenting efforts and greater intensity in moving forward with the nation's pollution fight, focusing closely on key areas and procedures of pollutant control and prevention and issues that concern the public most.

It is important to bolster the coordinated control of multiple pollutants, coordinate the treatment of water resources, environment and ecology, and move forward with the containment of soil pollution, policymakers said.

The nation will carry out stronger treatment measures on solid waste and new pollutants, enforce across-the-board bans on imported waste, and enable new breakthroughs in the treatment of key areas and regions, they said.

They emphasized the need to establish a mechanism that allows for the integrated planning, deployment, enforcement and assessment of pollution control and carbon emissions control, saying that the protection and restoration of key ecological systems must be moved forward.

It is important to adjust structures of industries, energy, transportation and land use and to impose stricter thresholds for the approval of projects with high energy consumption and high pollution, they said.

The policymakers also vowed to reinforce systemic and whole-procedure supervision, saying that actions that damage the ecology and environment will be subject to resolute punishment and violators will face high penalties.

The meeting also underlined the need to amplify the role of the nation's strategic reserves in stabilizing the market and the need to enhance the reserve of bulk commodities and the capacity to adjust.