China pledges comprehensive opening-up in 2019

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02:15

China will promote comprehensive opening-up, relax market access and expand foreign trade in 2019, according to a statement on Friday following the conclusion of the three-day closed-door annual economic meeting of the country's top leaders to chart the course for the economy in 2019.

The country will fully implement the pre-establishment national treatment with a negative list, protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign businessmen in China, especially intellectual property rights, and allow more areas to establish wholly foreign-funded enterprises, the statement said after the Central Economic Work Conference.

The authorities will expand imports and exports, promote diversification of export markets and reduce institutional costs of imports. They also vow to continue active participation in WTO reforms for free trade, and to put into practice what China and the U.S. agreed on at the Argentina G20 to pave the way for better trade talks, the statement added.

China will also push forward joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with enterprises playing a major role and effectively control various types of risks. It will carefully hold the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation next year, the statement said.

Besides promoting comprehensive opening-up, the annual meeting prioritizes six other tasks for next year's economic program, including pushing for high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, forming a stronger domestic market and speeding up reform of the economic structure.

Ensuring sound economic work is especially important for 2019, which marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and is a key year for the country to achieve its goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.

Domestic economy

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China will strengthen counter-cyclical policy adjustments of macro-policies, and maintain its proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy in 2019.

It will cut taxes and administrative fees on a larger scale and maintain adequate liquidity next year to help support economic growth and keep it within a reasonable range.

Experts said the economy may face greater downward pressure in the coming year, but added there's no need to be pessimistic.

"We won't be facing some radical changes on policy or the internal environment. That's the good news. Despite all the difficulties, I think the country still has lots of cards in hand. For instance, we still have room to lower our required ratio of reserves and we can still have room to lower our interest rate," said Wang Jianhui, deputy general manager of R&D Department of Capital Securities.

The country will substantially increase the size of local government special bonds, and improve the monetary policy transmission mechanism. Meanwhile, the proportion of direct financing will be increased to make financing more accessible and affordable for the private sector and small businesses.

China will deepen reforms in state-owned enterprises, taxation and financing, land, market access, and social management to create an institutional environment for fair competition and facilitate the accelerated development of small and medium enterprises.

It will stick with supply-side structural reform and speed up the clearing of zombie companies, develop more good-quality enterprises, cultivate new industrial clusters, and improve the financial system's ability to serve the real economy.

The country will also push for a pilot technology board for the Shanghai Stock Exchange with IPO registration scheme. The country wants to create a well regulated, transparent, open and vibrant capital market, with efforts on increasing the quality of listed companies, improving transaction rules, and guiding more long-term value investing capital into the market.

China will strive to support jobs, invest more in education for pre-school kids and children in rural areas, incorporate more life-saving drugs into the healthcare system, accelerate the commercial use of 5G, and create a long-term plan to tame home prices, while curbing risks and financial market volatility, according to the statement.

China promotes high-quality development amid downward pressure