New bureau signals China’s strong support for private economy
BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — The second episode of the China Economic Roundtable, hosted by Xinhua News Agency, featured the development of China’s private businesses, a sector full of vitality and essential to the world’s second largest economy.
During the discussions, Bai Jingwei, co-founder of Qitan Technology Ltd. from Chengdu, and Zhou Zhen, president of Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd., commented on the potential and challenges of the private sector, with the stories of Hangzhou Wahaha Group and the Yiwu International Trade Market shared on the screen.
These private firms and the trade market offer a glimpse into millions of outstanding private businesses in the country that have inspired many with their rags-to-riches tales.
The following is some background information on the firms and the market mentioned in the discussions.
— Hangzhou Wahaha Group
Once a school-run firm, Hangzhou Wahaha Group is a food and beverage giant. Founded in 1987, the company has become a leading enterprise with 81 production bases and more than 180 subsidiaries, employing nearly 30,000 people.
In the recently released 2023 edition of China’s top 500 private enterprises, the group was on the list again, with a total operation revenue of 51.2 billion yuan (about 7.13 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022.
“For Chinese entrepreneurs, it is essential to be patriotic, to innovate continuously and to care for employees,” said the group’s founder, 77-year-old Zong Qinghou. “Only in this way can private firms thrive.”
— Yiwu International Trade Market
Yiwu, once an impoverished county, has grown into a hub of the global small-commodity trade.
The Yiwu International Trade Market, the world’s largest small-commodity market, deals with over 2.1 million types of commodities that reach about 230 countries and regions around the world.
Every year more than 560,000 overseas buyers visit Yiwu, and the city hosts over 15,000 merchants from more than 100 countries and regions.
To better cater to demand from foreign buyers and obtain more orders, the market has been working to elevate the quality of goods, enhance innovation and deepen the integration of online and offline, ensuring the name of “the world’s supermarket” continues to shine.
— Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd., a pioneer in the domain of mass spectrometers, is rising quickly amid China’s pledge to advance sci-tech innovation. Established in 2004, the company is a provider of high-end mass spectrometry products, as well as relevant testing services.
With more than 200 mass spectrometry patents, it is one of a few companies in the world that owns the core technology of high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
“Staying focused on our main tasks and sticking to innovation has always been our top priority,” said Zhou Zhen, president of Hexin.
— Qitan Technology Ltd.
Qitan Technology Ltd., Chengdu, is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the development of nanopore sequencing technology. In 2020, the company developed China’s first nanopore gene sequencer.
Bai Jingwei, the company’s co-founder, said China’s policy support to the health sector has encouraged private investment in this sector and is an important factor behind the sector’s rapid development over the past five to 10 years.
New bureau signals China’s strong support for private economy
China’s founding of a new bureau sends a clear signal of support for private economy development, guest speakers told the China Economic Roundtable hosted by Xinhua News Agency.
Wei Dong, head of the private economy development bureau, told Xinhua that the establishment of the bureau, as a special working organization to promote the development and growth of the private sector, provides a strong guarantee for promoting its high-quality development.
“It is our founding mission to serve the development and growth of the private sector wholeheartedly,” said Wei, adding that “the bureau and private enterprises belong to one family.”
Wei, speaking during the roundtable talk, highlighted the bureau’s function of providing services to the private economy, noting that the main responsibilities of the bureau include staying on top of the development of the private economy, focusing on its needs and coordinating and organizing the formulation of policies and measures to promote its development, and providing policy incentives to promote the growth of private investment.
The bureau will also be responsible for establishing a mechanism for regular communication with private enterprises, coordinating efforts to solve major problems concerning the development of the private economy, and working toward enhancing its international competitiveness, according to Wei.
To that end, the bureau has taken concrete measures in its latest moves, said Wei. For example, it has put local government support for the development of the private sector onto the list of matters to be annually supervised by the State Council, and rewards will be given to those excelling in this regard.
Wei put forward two keywords — “crucial” and “indispensable” in describing the private economy’s role in China, saying that it is not only where entrepreneurship and employment mainly grow and expand, but also an essential incubator of technological innovation and an important source of tax revenue.
“The status and role of the private economy will become more and more important,” said Wei.
In the first three quarters of this year, the yuan-denominated imports and exports of private enterprises increased by 6.1 percentage points, accounting for 53.1 percent of the total value of China’s imports and exports, proving a definite stabilizer of foreign trade, said Wei.
Zhou Zhen, president of Guangzhou Hexin Instrument Co., Ltd., told Xinhua that the private sector is one of the most important elements of the national economy and a major force for scientific and technological innovation in the country.
“Given that the private economy is actively exploring new driving forces for economic transformation, new tracks for emerging economies, and new ways of common prosperity, I believe that the private economy is an ‘active explorer’ of China’s high-quality economic development,” said Wei Chu, deputy head of the School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, during the roundtable talk.
China’s private sector sees marginal improvements in Q1-Q3: official
China’s private sector posted marginal improvements in the first three quarters of 2023 amid steady recovery of the macro economy, an official with the country’s top economic planner told the China Economic Roundtable hosted by Xinhua News Agency.
In the first nine months of this year, China’s private sector saw faster growth in secondary industry investment, steady industrial output and rapid foreign trade expansion, Wei Dong, head of the bureau for private economy development under the National Development and Reform Commission.
Growth of value-added industrial output of China’s major private enterprises steadied at 3.3 percent year on year in September, roughly flat with the 3.4 percent registered in August, Wei said.
He highlighted that the private sector has been a “stabilizer” for China’s foreign trade, pointing out that its yuan-denominated imports and exports climbed 6.1 percent year on year in the first three quarters, accounting for 53.1 percent of the total.
In particular, both import and export growth of private businesses outpaced the headline levels, Wei said.
Editor’s note: The China Economic Roundtable is an all-media talk platform launched by Xinhua News Agency, with the second episode featuring the Chinese private economy
(Xinhua)
Login to add a comment