China will further optimize its business environment to unleash the vitality of private firms and boost fair competition, according to an official document published Sunday. 

Under the guideline jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, more sectors will be opened up to private firms. 

For instance, private firms will be encouraged to provide basic telecommunication services through equity participation, and engage in power generation and distribution as well as electricity selling in the form of controlling shareholders or through equity participation. 

They may also enter the sectors of oil-gas exploration, development, refining and marketing as well as the construction of infrastructure facilities related to the storage and transmission pipelines for oil, natural gas and refined oil products. 

Eligible private firms may engage in crude oil import and the export of refined oil products, said the guideline. 

In addition, broader access is expected to be seen in the sectors of financial services, infrastructure and social undertakings. 

To boost the development of private firms, the government will further ease the tax burden of private firms, and enhance the capability of financial institutions to serve private enterprises. 

Private firms were also encouraged to go public or issue bonds, while the regional equity market targeting private firms will get support. 

The guideline also mentioned the optimization of the legal environment, stressing the protection of private firms by law enforcement and justice departments as well as the protection of legal property of private enterprises and entrepreneurs. 

It also encouraged private firms to improve corporate governance, enhance technical innovation and industrial upgrading, and participate in the implementation of major national strategies such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated development and the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Liu Yonghao, chairman of China's agricultural conglomerate New Hope Group, applauded the government's equal treatment policy to all market entities and efforts to create a fair market environment. 

"Amid rising downward pressure on economic growth and uncertainties looming over global economy, the successive announcement of an array of favorable policies will definitely create a better environment for the healthy development of the private economy," Liu told Chinese financial news outlet Yicai. 

Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi emphasized protecting the legal property of private enterprises and private entrepreneurs, as referenced in the guideline, requires governments at all levels and state-owned enterprises to perform agreements and contracts with private enterprises in accordance with the law, and hold accountable persons responsible for the arrearage owed to private companies.

China charted a course for its economy in 2020 at the annual Central Economic Work Conference, targeting stable growth regardless of external and internal uncertainties and underscoring the importance of shoring up private companies to stabilize investment. 

The world's second largest economy has taken pains to let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation. Increasing market competition in monopoly industries and letting private businesses gain wider access to the market could also boost market vitality by offering a level playing field.  

China's economic output grew six percent in the third quarter of 2019, its slowest rate in nearly three decades, but it continues to rack up one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world amid a softening global economy. 

(With input from Xinhua)