Cover News:

Developing a unified national market is a systematic project that involves a wide range of areas and numerous factors to consider. The government work report has outlined specific plans for this initiative for two consecutive years. What steps will be taken next? Thank you.

Shen Danyang:

I'd like to invite Mr. Chen to answer this question.

Chen Changsheng:

Thanks for your question. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to developing a unified national market. As we know, China has a vast market with a population of over 1.4 billion. Even a 1% share of demand equates to a significant market of 14 million people. From a macroeconomic perspective, China sees nearly 50 trillion yuan in annual consumption, more than 50 trillion yuan in investment, and over 20 trillion yuan in imports of goods and services each year, reflecting a massive scale. China is currently transitioning from a per capita GDP of $13,000 to $20,000 as it moves to the next stage of development. Judging from international experience, this stage also releases significant demand potential. Regarding supply conditions, China maintains a vast and diverse production factor and resource market, a comprehensive industrial system and a robust transportation and logistics network. These are our unique advantages. If localities focus on self-protection, engage in small-scale circulation, and create fragmented, isolated markets, enterprises will be unable to compete effectively, and the advantages of economies of scale will be squandered. This approach is equivalent to "undermining one's own potential."

Making thorough efforts to develop a unified national market involves removing bottlenecks and obstacles that impede economic flows, maximizing the market's decisive role in resource allocation, better leveraging government functions, and effectively boosting the domestic economy.

Specifically, while continuing to implement guidelines on developing a unified national market and strengthening the implementation of regulations on fair competition review, our priority this year can be summarized as "five integrations and one elimination." The "five integrations" refer to actively promoting unified foundational institutions and rules, unified and interconnected market facilities, a unified production factor and resource market, a unified goods and services market, and unified market supervision. At the same time, further regulation of local governments' economic promotion and investment attraction practices is needed, along with a comprehensive effort to address rat race competition and genuinely eliminate harmful local protectionism.

In this process, we should attach equal importance to efforts in both establishing new systems and abolishing old ones. Abolishing old systems means resolutely eliminating local protectionism and market fragmentation. This year, strong efforts will be made to address the practice in some regions of indirectly requiring out-of-town enterprises to establish local branches, a requirement that many businesses consider highly costly. Additionally, discriminatory provisions affecting market access remain, and enterprises continue to face obstacles when exiting the market. These issues must be addressed decisively. Regarding the establishment of new systems, a new revised version of the negative list for market access will be introduced. Additionally, bidding and tendering systems and mechanisms will undergo reform and improvement. This year, specific measures will be introduced across three dimensions: "what is required, what is prohibited, and what is encouraged." These measures aim to guide localities in fully leveraging their comparative advantages and achieving differentiated competition and development. Finally, it should be emphasized that developing a unified national market is intended to enhance our participation in the global division of labor. China is a large market that is open to the world, not one that operates in isolation behind closed doors. The developing of a unified national market across China means purchasing from and selling to all parts of the country. Additionally, it means buying from and selling to the entire world. Thank you.