Top entrepreneurs from east China’s Jiangsu province have responded positively to President Xi Jinping's emphasis on providing more support to private enterprises, and said they will step up efforts to boost innovation and take the initiative to shore up economic growth.
Zhou Haijiang, chairman of Hongdou Group, a multibillion dollar knitwear and garment group, said he was reassured by President Xi's speech about more support to private firms. "The top leadership gave an enlightening prescription to the difficulties we are facing. As representatives of the new generation of entrepreneurs, we will strengthen our innovation capabilities and core competitiveness to be stronger, and hope to gain a lead in global competition," Zhou said.
President Xi Jinping sent a strong signal of maintaining supportive policies toward private businesses, including such measures as tax reductions, at an unusual meeting with entrepreneurs on Thursday.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, was briefed by 10 entrepreneurs, mostly from small and medium-sized companies, at the Great Hall of the People. He talked with them about their difficulties and required that related government departments study how to address the problems properly.
Private businesses’ status and role in China’s economic and social development are unchanged; the Party’s policies of unswervingly encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of private businesses are unchanged; and the Party’s dedication to improving the environment and providing more opportunities for private businesses is unchanged, Xi said.
China’s private businesses can only become stronger in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, he said, and they should play on a broader stage.
Since the reform and opening-up policy was introduced 40 years ago, private businesses have become an important force in promoting the country’s development, Xi said, adding that private companies have contributed to entrepreneurship, employment, innovation and revenue.
The Party’s stance is clear and consistent on upholding its basic economic system, which has already been enshrined in the country’s Constitution and the Party’s Constitution, Xi said.
All private companies and private businesspeople should focus on the development of their businesses without doubts or anxiety, Xi said.
Xi introduced six measures, including easing companies’ tax burdens, resolving private companies’ difficulties in borrowing money, building a fairer environment for competition and protecting the safety of private businesspeople and their wealth.
The president’s commitment to supporting private businesses is in line with his remarks during his recent inspection tours in Liaoning and Guangdong provinces, where he visited private companies and reaffirmed the Party’s unswerving support for private businesses.
The role of the private sector can never be overestimated given the fact that it contributes 50 percent of the country's tax revenues, 60 percent of its gross domestic product, 70 percent of its technological innovations, 80 percent of its jobs and 90 percent of new jobs and enterprises, according to a chinadaily.com editorial posted on October 22.
Despite its status as the second-largest economy in the world, China is still a developing country when it comes to its average per capita GDP and disposable income. The sound growth of the nonpublic economy is not only complementary to the State-owned economy, it is necessary to support the development of the national economy, the editorial said.
As a private economy powerhouse, Jiangsu registered 37148 private firms by the end of last year, posting 2 trillion yuan of industrial added value, which accounted for 55.4% of the province’s entire GDP.
The province increased 490000 private firms last year, adding up to a total of 2.586 million.
(Source: ourjiangsu.com)
