The World Bank's press release for the Doing Business 2020 report opens with the sentence "China joined the ranks of the world's top 10 most improved economies for ease of doing business for the second year in a row." On the Ease of Doing Business Ranking, China has jumped 15 places from the 46th to the 31st. And it ranks second in the number of reforms carried out by each country in the last year.

For those who criticize Chinese government's commitment to the market-oriented economy and the rule of law in business, this report certainly doesn't help them. The report highlights China's efforts at streamlining the business system. It recognizes that China has integrated the process of acquiring company seals into a "one-stop shop," making it easier for individuals to open up a business. The report specifically praises Chinese government's efforts at making obtaining building permits easier while raising the safety standards and imposing stricter supervision.

Also, the report shows that China has been improving substantially in the rule of law in the market. For example, the government has made enforcing contracts easier by making the court more transparent to the public. China scores 17 out of 18 in improving the market regulatory and judicial quality, the highest in the world.

And apparently, China isn't just playing catch-up in ensuring a better business environment. It is already becoming a leader in certain fields. Thanks to Chinese companies' research in digital technologies, China has been able to form a comprehensive mobile e-filing and e-paying system for tax in the last several years. The report points out that in 2006, it took businesses in Shanghai 832 hours and 37 payments to complete its taxation process. By this year's report, the same process only takes 138 hours and 7 payments. The report says that high tax compliance costs are associated with "more corruption, less investments." The simplification of the taxation process for Chinese businesses has greatly enabled the cleaning of business environment and facilitated investment and growth.

As noted by Martin Raise, the World Bank Country Director for China, "China has undertaken substantial efforts to improve the domestic business climate for small and medium-size enterprises, maintaining an active pace of reforms." These achievements are just a glimpse into China's progress. For a market as vast as China's and a country that just started market liberalization four decades ago, it has already achieved what other countries took centuries to achieve.

This kind of progress is owed to the continuous efforts in improving and reforming the market. Just in the past two weeks, significant process has been made. Several days before the World Bank's report, The State Council of the People's Republic of China released the regulation on optimizing business environment in China effective on January 1, 2020. And last week, China announced that it would allow overseas financial institutions to establish and own shares in foreign-invested insurance companies. According to Emilie Wu, analyst at Shanghai-based Red Pulse, in an interview with CNBC, the further opening up of the Chinese market is China's way of welcoming foreign financial institutions and the intention to use this to speed up the reform in the Chinese market.

China has demonstrated that it doesn't waver from the reform and opening-up of its market. The government keeps progressing and optimizing the business environment. The World Bank's report is a confirmation of this effort and an international acknowledgement of its success. Doubters of the Chinese economy and market should be mindful the next time they throw out accusations. The truth is not on their side. It's on China's.

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