Xi's speech boosts morale of companies

Experts: Message to help cushion market players' worries about growth prospects

President Xi Jinping's pledges to develop a unified, open, competitive and orderly market system and to support businesses provide significant assurance to market players, particularly private businesses, to dispel their worries and bolster market confidence, according to experts and business leaders.

Xi made the pledges while delivering a keynote speech via video to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit on Thursday, reiterating that China is ready to develop a system in which all types of market entities are treated on an equal basis.

"We will unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector, and unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the nonpublic sector. We treat all types of market entities on an equal basis, and we are working to develop a unified, open, competitive and orderly market system," Xi said.

He noted in particular that recent efforts by authorities to improve and better enforce anti-monopoly laws and regulations, strengthening regulation over some sectors, are called for to promote the sound development of the market economy in China.

Experts and businesses leaders see this as a message of clear confidence and assurance that anti-monopoly efforts aimed at certain sectors will be conducive to sound overall growth, and the country's private sector will be given incentive to grow in a healthy and enabling environment.

Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said he believes that Xi's words are a clear signal about China's regulatory stance when outsiders don't fully understand the recent regulatory approaches toward certain sectors.

"The recent regulatory approaches are aimed at specific sectors. Such moves are necessary as China's internet-driven economy has grown to a new stage with new formats. Competent regulatory approaches need to be improved and refined accordingly to better protect the rights and interests of consumers and bolster fairer competition," he said.

Some experts said such a message will help cushion the worries from market players, particularly small and micro businesses, about the country's growth prospects, as many of them are coping with rising commodity prices and uncertainties triggered by recent sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks.

"It is worth noting from this message that despite regulatory approaches toward specific sectors, China is resolved to lead globalization, and conditions are ripe for China to take this role. Businesses should be confident that China's door of opening-up will open only wider," said Li Ke'aobo, deputy director of Tsinghua University's Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking.

Xiao Maochang, chairman of Sunvim Group, a textile product manufacturer based in Shandong province, said that an ever-improving environment demonstrates China's stable growth. He said local officials have asked the company on multiple occasions what the government can do to better facilitate their operations.

Honson To, chairman of KPMG Asia-Pacific and China, said he believes China's attractiveness to foreign investors will continue rising.

"We've noticed that China is placing increasing efforts on high-quality growth centered on innovation and attracting high-quality foreign investment," he said. "The country's enormous market potential and improving business climate will bring tremendous opportunities for overseas investors."

Zhou Lanxu contributed to this story.