Critical meeting centers on reform

The Central Economic Work Conference opened in Beijing on Friday. The conference will assess the state of the domestic economy and set the tone for next year's macroeconomic policy, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday. During the annual conference, China's top leaders and policymakers are expected to center on more measures to boost the real economy with the aid of multinational cooperation and further reforms of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) amid rising downward pressure for economic growth, analysts said. Reforms of SOEs, as well as of taxation and finances, will proceed in 2016, Xu Hongcai, director of the Department of Information under the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times on Friday. According to Xu, SOE reform is a crucial part of industrial adjustment as the government seeks ways to increase efficiency and competence amid downward pressure on domestic economy. Xu said that with the completion of the top-level design, next year will see concrete steps for SOE reforms from the Chinese government. The Chinese government unveiled a leading document outlining the reform of SOEs on September 13, saying that by 2020, major achievements will be made in key areas, such as the establishment of a better State capital management system, a modern enterprise system and a market-oriented operating system, Xinhua reported. Tian Yun, director of the research center of the China Society of Macroeconomics, told the Global Times on Friday that the government would also focus more on the real economy in order to boost Chinese enterprises' overseas business cooperation. Tian noted that as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will initiate investment projects next year, China's business cooperation with other countries will make great headway. At the Central Economic Work Conference, the government would consider how to practice the five development concepts of "innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared by all," which were proposed at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, according to a commentary of the People's Daily on Friday. Open development means deepening China's integration with world economy to spur economic growth, the People's Daily said. The Chinese government has already conducted a series of reforms, especially in the financial sector, to increase the openness of the Chinese economy, Tian said. Such measures include adopting a more market-orientated exchange rate system for the yuan, as well as successfully pushing the yuan to be included in the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights reserve basket. Although the government's original intention with such financial reforms was to stimulate exports, those reforms have limited influence on China's foreign trade, Tian noted. In the 2014 economic work conference, the central authorities stated that China would strive to keep economic growth and policies steady in 2015, actively adapt to the economic "new normal" of slower speed but higher quality. Imbalanced development According to the People's Daily, the Chinese government will roll out measures to solve the problem of economic and social imbalances between areas like cities and the countryside so as to achieve coordinated development. "Now the country has come to the point where we should adjust the structure of economic development to focus on overall development, instead of pursuing a fast growth speed alone," according to the newspaper. Xu said that the most urgent mission to achieve coordinated development is to bridge the gap between unqualified supply and weak demands on the domestic markets. The government should launch policies to enhance the quality of supply, while stimulating demands in the domestic market, such as measures to encourage new forms of consumption, Xu noted. Besides, the People's Daily said that the government would put innovation at the center of its national development strategy. Tian said that innovation is a difficult yet crucial task for the country. "It is important to encourage innovation in China, but it should not be carried out in a very hasty manner," he said. He also suggested that measures should be taken to explore the market value of China's academic research findings created by domestic universities. Despite the difficulties of reforms and the challenges of the economic downturn, Xu noted that China's economy would develop steadily, with GDP growth reaching 6.8 percent in 2016. In 2015, China's GDP rose by 7 percent in the first and second quarters, and by 6.9 percent in the third quarter.