Chinese entrepreneurs hope govt to further simplify administration

BEIJING - Chinese entrepreneurs asked the central government to further streamline administration in a bid to unleash market vitality, a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday.

In a sample of 10,000 interviews, 71.4 percent of interviewees from 10 provinces including Shandong, Zhejiang and Guangdong hope the government will make more efforts to streamline administration and delegate powers to lower levels of government.

The survey showed 96.7 percent of entrepreneurs interviewed consider it "necessary" to streamline administration, while 74.5 percent of them said such government reforms boost efficiency.

Still, nearly one-third of entrepreneurs were not satisfied with the reform in terms of the "unclear" effect, according to the survey results.

Since 2013, China's State Council has been streamlining government administration to reduce government control and unleash market vitality.

In two years, more than 700 approval items controlled by central government departments have been canceled or delegated to lower agencies, more than a third of all approval items handled by the State Council were cut or decentralized.

On May 12, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang again called for more efforts to streamline administration procedures and cut red tape at a national teleconference attended by senior and mid-level officials, saying the government will cancel more approval items, make business registration easier and waive administrative charges it deems unreasonable this year.

"For years, excess intervention and stifling supervision by the government over microeconomic activities, as well as too much emphasis on review and approval to the neglect of regulation, have sapped economic vitality, incurred high administrative costs and provided breeding grounds for corruption. To streamline administration, delegate power and strengthen regulation is a crucial step to address these acute problems," Li said.

The survey was made upon the request of Chinese Academy of Governance.