Party Boosts Private SectorChina's top private business leader Jing Shuping said that the country's private business sector could not have developed so quickly during the last two decades without the prudent leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)."China's domestic industry was born in an overwhelmingly feudalist, imperialist and bureaucratic capitalist world,'' recalled Jing, chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, China's non-governmental body for businesses. This is a reference to the hardship the country's private industry endured as it first took shape in final days of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China's last feudal dynasty. "Most industries could not compete with firms owned by foreign investors or Chinese bureaucrats on an equal footing,'' said Jing, who is also vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political consultative body. The liberation of the nation by the CPC in 1949 gave new life to the country's industries, he noted. However, the private economy was quite weak during the early years after liberation. Private enterprises in China had total assets worth just 2.2 billion yuan in 1956, and there were only 760,000 private entrepreneurs, Jing said. The opening-up and reform policy introduced by the Party in 1978 gave new momentum to the development of China's private economy, he added. The nation now has over 1.7 million fully private enterprises with a total investment of 1.1 trillion yuan (US$132 billion) and a work force of around 27 million, according to the latest statistics. Private enterprises are those businesses which employ more than eight people; those with fewer than eight employees are considered individual businesses in China. Jing attributed the rapid development of the private sector to the growing power of the nation, the correct policies of the Party and the hard work of the entrepreneurs. "The private sector will play an increasingly important role as the national economy grows,'' he continued. The 1999 amendment to the country's Constitution changed the non-State economy from a "complement to the State-owned economy'' to "an important constituting part'' of the socialist market economy. "Today private entrepreneurs are enthusiastic supporters of the Party's policies because they realize that their endeavours can not succeed without the correct leadership of the Party,'' Jing pointed out. From China Daily |
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