China has made major strides in market regulation and quality growth during 14th Five-Year Plan

China's top market regulator highlighted notable achievements in market regulation and business environment optimization during the country's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), at a press briefing held by the State Council Information Office on Friday.

China's business environment has seen continuous improvement through the establishment of a unified national market and the implementation of a national negative list for market access, said Luo Wen, director of the State Administration for Market Regulation. These reforms have reduced operational costs for businesses while enhancing protections for intellectual property and trade secrets, thereby encouraging greater innovation. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the country has seen a net increase of 19.99 million enterprises and 33.95 million individual businesses.

The regulator also reported that market operations have become more standardized. By establishing and implementing credit supervision mechanisms – such as the enterprise abnormal operation list – the credit level of Chinese enterprises rose from 128.6 in 2020 to 161.61 in the first half of 2025, reflecting improved corporate compliance and trust levels across industries.

China has achieved significant progress in quality development. Over the past five years, China has launched 4,271 key research projects, addressing about 18,000 quality-related bottlenecks. Efforts to build and expand quality infrastructure have also accelerated, with 2,372 one-stop service stations now operational nationwide. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's manufacturing quality competitiveness index has risen to 85.86 out of 100, while satisfaction levels for consumer and public services reached 81.33 and 81.62 points, respectively.

Looking ahead, China will continue to deepen reforms in standardization and improve its national standards system, according to Deng Zhiyong, deputy director of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Deng added that a more unified, coordinated, and efficient standards framework will better support the construction of a unified national market and drive high-quality economic and social development.