Regulation vows to treat businesses equally

China on Wednesday unveiled sweeping administrative rules aimed at improving the business climate in the country, officially throwing legal and institutional support behind the country's long-stated goals to create more stable, transparent and fairer market for all types of businesses.

Coming at a time when the world's second-largest economy is under intense downward pressure from both external trade tensions and internal economic transition, the new rules, released by the State Council, will help allay concerns in the business community and pave the way for deepening reforms and opening up, analysts noted.

Premier Li Keqiang signed a decree for the release of the regulation on improving the business environment, set to take effect on January 1, 2020, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The new regulation clearly stipulates that the government will equally protect "all types" of businesses, ensure they use factors of production and take advantage of policy support legally and fairly, Xinhua reported.

China will also push for the establishment of a national platform for market entities to streamline administrative applications and the approval process, and standardize intermediary services, Xinhua said. The State Council also stipulated equal market access and maintaining a fair market order, the report said.

To continually improve the business climate, "it was necessary to form special administrative regulations to provide guarantee and support for optimizing business environment on the institutional level," Xinhua said.

While Chinese policymakers have long been vowing and have made efforts to improve the business environment for foreign and private companies, it is the first time the country has issued an administrative regulation on the matter with legally binding force, said Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics. The move showed the official resolve for implementation of the regulation as officials "must carry out their responsibilities stipulated by the law and avoid behaviors unauthorized by law," Cong told the Global Times.

Allaying concerns

As trade tensions persisted between China and the US and as economic growth continued to slow, the release of the regulation offered some uplifting news for companies during a difficult time, analysts said.

"[This] is a correction to the tight liquidity faced by businesses earlier," Cao Heping, a professor at the school of economics at Peking University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Certain policies must be implemented as soon as possible to help companies, Cao said.

The regulation also stipulates that the government will help companies overcome difficulties in fundraising and will implement earlier measures to reduce taxes and administrative fees to ease their burden, according to Xinhua.

The move also sought to reassure foreign investors, who have long complained about business conditions in the Chinese market. The regulation offers protection for all types of businesses, including foreign, analysts said. Such complaints are also at the heart of the trade dispute between China and the US.

Cao said that while China has been continually carrying out market reforms and further opening up its market, others, particularly the US, have been doing the opposite to limit market access.

"China treats foreign companies way better than certain foreign countries treat Chinese companies," he said, pointing to the US crackdown on Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Chinese officials also firmly pushed back on what they call unfounded criticism and smearing of the Chinese economy.

On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry harshly criticized US official's claim that the Chinese economy was in its worst pace of growth and favors the US in trade negotiations. "Smearing others will not resolve their own problems and will not be conducive in addressing differences through consultations," Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said.

Growth in the Chinese economy further slowed in the third quarter of the year to 6 percent from 6.2 percent in the second quarter. But the figure is still within the targeted range of between 6 percent and 6.5 percent set by policymakers earlier this year.