Reforms for the well-being of the people

Consumers shop in a supermarket in Huaibei city, East China's Anhui province, Nov 10, 2014. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Editor's Note:

At the APEC conference, President Xi Jinping has said that to comprehensively deepen reform, China needs to stimulate the market vitality, broaden the path for innovation, advance opening-up at a higher standard, as well as improve people's well-being and promote social equity and justice. Below are the reforms the nation has undertaken since the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in November 2013:

While the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 called for building an "ecological civilization", in 2013, the third plenum discussed how to make it happen.

To build a beautiful China, the country must improve the system of land development, conservation of resources and environmental protection, the third plenum communique said.

A bottom line for ecological protection should be established, it said. China must improve the system of property rights for natural resources and better regulate the use. The country should also establish a system of compensation for the use of natural resources and the subsequent impact on the ecosystem.

"It is no longer a concept, but a workable plan with the same weight as economic and market development, and will involve participation across all dimensions - political, social, and cultural," said Zhang Xiaode, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance who specializes in economic and ecological civilization.

GREEN, INNOVATIVE

The central government named ecological civilization as an important characteristic of a modern country, along with the development of the economy, politics, society and culture. After reaping the population dividend, China will turn to innovation for sustainable growth.

Lawmakers revised the Environmental Protection Law to make it easier for people to sue polluters and more expensive for polluters to discharge pollutants. Environmental quality has become an important standard for assessing the performance of local governments.

The environmental protection and new energy industries have also become important boosters of China's economic growth.

In September, the central authorities strengthened the administration and supervision of the special fund for science and technology research and decided one month later to open State-owned science and technology research facilities and equipment to public use.

The communique pointed out that to better adjust to the new realities of economic globalization, China must accelerate the pace of opening-up, both internally and in terms of the outside world. The country will lower the thresholds for investment, accelerate the construction of free trade zones, and boost opening-up in inland and coastal areas.

Huang Hai, vice-president of the China Association of Trade in Services, said relaxing the investment barriers and accelerating the construction of free trade zones are fundamental changes.

"Take foreign investors for example, previously they were only allowed to invest in the fields and projects stipulated in the Catalogue of Foreign Investment Industries. However, under the new regulations in the China (Shanghai) Free Trade Zone, they can invest in a wider range of fields," said Huang.

Businesses have more rights and receive an improved service in the new free trade zone. If the pilot in Shanghai is successful, it may be expanded nationwide, he added.

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