Small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, continue to thrive in the Chinese market. But experts say the government can still do more to help them. So the NPC Standing Committee, China's top legislature, held a special inquiry session on the enforcement of the Law on Promoting SMEs on Friday.

One of lawmakers, Li Wei, raised a question on behalf of SMEs on how to enhance the innovation capacity of such enterprises, meaning that apart from their own efforts, what can the government do?

Miao Wei, minister of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said as the manager of coordination on the work of promoting the development of SMEs, MIIT has trained special personnel to help SMEs in different regions to boost their vitality over the years and will continue to organize a series of business matchmaking events.

During the discussion, lawmakers urged the relevant government department to push forward a variety of measures to promote the development of SMEs, including further relaxing their market access, establishing a fair and uniform market supervision system, improving financing policies and alleviating the burden of taxes and fees. 

First adopted in 2002, the SME promotion law was revised in September of 2017. 

According to the law, relevant government agencies are required to protect the rights and interests of SMEs as well as private entrepreneurs, and provide guidance on their development. 

The top legislature launched an inspection on the enforcement of the law earlier this year. 

The inspection teams covered six provincial regions and are designated to facilitate implementation of the law among various government agencies. 

Lawmakers say that China’s legal, business, financial and innovation environments for SMEs have greatly improved. 

It is expected that SMEs in China can transform into high quality and technology-based ones and go global.