Editor's note: Wang Xiaomei is a researcher at the Research Center for Marxism Theory Innovation and Communication, Zhejiang University. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of CGTN. It has been translated from Chinese and edited for brevity and clarity.

When deciding whether to expand production or invest in R&D, enterprises not only evaluate market opportunities but also assess whether the rules are fair and whether policies will be implemented. The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues concerning Persevering with Full and Rigorous Party Self-Governance, adopted at the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, sends a signal that goes beyond Party self-governance. It aims to safeguard business development with institutional certainty. From the perspective of market entities, the economic significance of this deployment lies in translating rigid constraints on Party officials' exercise of their powers and performance of their duties into rules and institutional environments that businesses can trust and verify.

Fair competition requires, first and foremost, that public power does not become a competitive advantage for a select few enterprises. In areas such as market access and government bidding and procurement, power-for-money deals do not just cost law-abiding companies contracts. They also erode the market's stable expectation that "rules outweigh personal connections". Regulating the exercise of power and eliminating under-the-table practices help ensure that competition is based more on technology, quality, and efficiency. For private small and medium-sized enterprises, this means fewer hidden barriers. For state-owned enterprises, it means guarding against the tunneling of benefits in procurement and investment. The economic value of clean governance lies in the systemic improvements in resource allocation.

Ultimately, better government-business relations will help lower institutional transaction costs for enterprises. For micro and small enterprises, repeated inspections, duplicative reporting requirements, and administrative approval backlogs can impose a heavier resource burden than taxes and fees. Building a relationship between government and business that is close and clean is not about cultivating cozy personal ties. It is about establishing regular channels of communication between them. Making service procedures and processing deadlines transparent allows enterprises to get timely responses without having to rely on personal connections. 

Policy effectiveness depends largely on how dependably it is implemented. For manufacturers, when government subsidies and other incentives are paid can directly affect cash-flow planning. For small and medium-sized suppliers fulfilling government procurement contracts, timely payment can determine their capacity to take on subsequent orders. Incorporating the prompt disbursement of funds, administrative processing times, and feedback from enterprises in assessments of officials' performance would help turn institutional commitments into tangible evidence of the government's credibility for businesses. Rectifying formalism and bureaucratism is conducive to preventing policies from losing their effectiveness through administrative hurdles between their announcement and the delivery of benefits to businesses.

Strict oversight reshapes how officials fulfill their responsibilities. The plenary session urged the officials to develop and act on a sound understanding of what constitutes good performance and stressed that they should put the people's interests first, deliver results through hard work, and strive to serve the people. When enterprises encounter problems that require coordination across government departments, they need officials to step in, coordinate, and take responsibility for resolving them. The growth of emerging industries likewise requires officials to take the initiative in finding solutions within the framework of the law. Clearly defining the boundaries of authority and responsibility gives officials a clear basis for fulfilling their role, allowing them to uphold the bottom line while having the confidence to take responsibility and act decisively, thus turning the pressure of oversight into greater governance efficacy.

The protection of property rights and the government’s credibility in honoring its commitments shape enterprises' expectations of long-term returns. China's Private Sector Promotion Law sets out regulations regarding government commitments and contractual obligations, as well as the proper regulation of law enforcement involving businesses. Incorporating these requirements into the exercise of public power and mechanisms for accountability can help prevent arbitrary interference in business operations, unlawful seizure, freezing of assets, and so on. This, in turn, puts businesses in a better position to bear the long-term costs of R&D and industrial transformation. For foreign-invested enterprises, the predictability that comes with transparent rules and consistent enforcement is more attractive than super-national treatment. Policy adjustments made on clear legal grounds and through established procedures also help foreign investors make long-term investment decisions.

The healthy dynamics of a sound political environment and a market ecosystem ultimately distill into a simple truth: businesses should not have to concern themselves with "whose connections carry the most weight"; they should focus entirely on "what the market needs". Only when the exercise of power is caged within institutional frameworks can market vitality be truly unleashed. Full and rigorous Party self-governance can thus provide the essential foundation needed to get the 15th Five-Year Plan off to a strong start and sustain China's economic development as it moves toward innovation, higher quality, and stronger performance.