China to Provide Level Playing Ground for Private Businesses

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 11, 2002

China to Provide Level Playing Ground for Private Businesses

China's booming private sector will get level playing ground in market competition with the state sector as well as foreign investors, senior economic officials pledged Sunday.

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China's booming private sector will get level playing ground in market competition with the state sector as well as foreign investors, Zeng pledged.

All economic sectors open to foreign capital will also be open to domestic private businesses, said Zeng Peiyan at the press conference held by the press center of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In response to a question from a US correspondent, Zeng said that it is a policy of the Chinese government to treat non-state-owned and state-owned enterprises equally, and let them engage in fair play.

"Private enterprises will be treated the same as state-owned and foreign-invested enterprises in market access, use of land, taxation, credit and foreign trade," said Zeng.

Zeng said: "If private enterprises show financial strength and have a good reputation, we will be in a position to approve them to issue bonds."

The downsizing of State-owned enterprises in the deepening reform and restructuring has laid off up to 24 million workers in recent year. Among them, 17 million have found new jobs, but more than 6 million still frequent re-employment centres, he said.

The pressure on employment is also mounting because each year, some 10 million new workers - such as college graduates - enter the workforce, and a surging number of farmers migrate to urban areas seeking jobs, Zeng said.

As a result, the unemployment rate is projected to hit 4 percent by the end of this year, Zeng added. This is slightly higher than the same figure at the end of 2001.

Despite the rising unemployment rate, China is still stable, partly because the country's social security system has played its due role, he said.

Governments at all levels have given top priority to addressing unemployment. To solve problems cropping up on our way forward through development, China will speed up economic development to ease its employment pressures, Zeng said.

The country's economic restructuring will gain speed, and the development of the service industry will increase, he said. Emerging private enterprises can absorb some of the redundant labour, he said.

In addition, the government will provide services in training laid-off workers and create more labour markets, he said.

According to official statistics, the total number of private enterprises in China rocketed to 2.03 million in 2001 from a mere 90,000 in 1998. Economic observers expect the private sector in China to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years.

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