Policy Digest

Airport cluster planned for Chengdu, Chongqing

China will accelerate the construction of a world-class airport cluster for the development of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a guideline published on March 16.

By 2025, the cluster will consist of 12 airports able to handle 210 million passengers and 3.7 million metric tons of cargo on about 1.5 million flights annually.

The Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle is one of the nation's most important regional development projects, along with others such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

By 2035, a safe, convenient, intelligent, green and highly efficient airport cluster will be fully established, boosting the economic development of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, the guideline said.

Some small businesses to get three-year tax cut

The Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration have announced new tax cuts for the country's low-profit small businesses for three years to further support their development.

From Jan 1, 2022 to Dec 31, 2024, businesses earning between 1 million yuan ($158,000) and 3 million yuan will only be taxed on 25 percent of their earnings at a rate of 20 percent, according to a notice published on Friday.

The businesses in question refer to legitimate enterprises with annual taxable incomes of under 3 million yuan, no more than 300 employees and total assets of under 50 million yuan.

Family doctor services to cover more people

The Chinese authorities plan to expand family doctor services to more than 75 percent of the population by 2035, according to a guideline jointly issued on March 15 by the National Health Commission in conjunction with five other departments.

The guideline is part of an effort to implement the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035.

The government will work to raise the percentage of people registered with family doctors by 1 to 3 percent every year from 2022 so that a healthcare system with family doctors as gatekeepers will gradually be set up.

By 2035, family doctors are expected to serve about 85 percent of priority patients, including the elderly, pregnant women, children, people with disabilities, people with chronic diseases and people with mental illnesses.

Family doctors can be general practitioners, clinicians, village doctors or even retired clinicians.

They will provide services ranging from health assessments to psychological counseling to registered residents through a variety of means including face-to-face consultations, phone calls, social media and professional communication systems.

Fees will be jointly covered by patients, China's medical insurance scheme and government expenditures on public medical services, according to the guideline.

Mo Jingxi - Xinhua