Guo Chunli: Further Advancing the Driving Force of the Private Economy Toward High-Quality Development
The private economy is a significant achievement of the development of the socialist market economy. It plays an indispensable role in the "two miracles" [1] of China's rapid economic development and long-term social stability, and serves as an important foundation for high-quality development in the New Era. We must further optimize the environment for the healthy and high-quality development of the private economy to consolidate the foundation of our country’s high-quality economic development.
High-quality development is the primary task in building a modern socialist country in all respects; it has become a high degree of consensus and a conscious action across society. By conforming to the general trend of high-quality development and adhering to the path of high-quality development, private enterprises have become a vital force in promoting China's high-quality economic development.
Private enterprises are an important force for promoting innovative development. Driven by national policies such as optimizing the allocation of innovation resources, opening up major scientific research infrastructure, and promoting the efficient circulation of data elements, the innovative capabilities of private enterprises have continuously improved. They have become an essential component of the national innovation system. Relevant statistics show that in 2023, the total R&D expenditure of the top 1,000 private enterprises by R&D investment accounted for 53.6% of the total R&D expenditure of all enterprises nationwide. As major subjects of scientific and technological innovation, private enterprises contributed 70% of technical innovation achievements in society. Furthermore, 80% of national "specialized, refined, differential, and innovative" (SRDI) "little giant" enterprises [2] and 90% of national high-tech enterprises are private enterprises. In recent years, private enterprises have demonstrated extraordinary innovative capabilities, standing at the forefront of global innovation competition. In 2024, 29 Chinese private enterprises entered the Fortune Global 500, accounting for 21.8% of the total number of Chinese enterprises on the list.
Private enterprises are an important force for promoting coordinated development. In recent years, based on the reality of agricultural and rural development and focused on the characteristic advantages of private enterprises, China has deeply advanced the "10,000 Enterprises Revitalizing 10,000 Villages" [3] action, guiding private enterprises to participate in rural revitalization. According to a report by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, 29.3% of surveyed enterprises participated in the action, playing a critical supportive role in the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside. Through the extension of industrial chains and the integration of supply chains, private enterprises drive the concentration of capital, technology, talent, and other factors toward rural areas, injecting new kinetic energy into rural revitalization.
Private enterprises are an important force for promoting green development. Awareness of green development among private enterprises continues to grow, and their level of green development has significantly improved. Some private enterprises have continuously increased investment in energy conservation and carbon reduction, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional production capacity. Others constitute the main component of the new energy industry: in 2023, private firms accounted for approximately 60% of wind power turbine manufacturing enterprises, and the vast majority of photovoltaic equipment manufacturing enterprises were private, laying a solid foundation for the green energy transition. Even more private enterprises have proactively assumed responsibility for energy conservation and carbon reduction, synergistically promoting carbon reduction, pollution control, green expansion, and growth, achieving significant results in green development.
Private enterprises are an important force for promoting open development. The private economy has always played an important role in exploring international markets and participating in international cooperation. From 2012 to 2024, the proportion of private enterprise imports and exports in the national total grew from approximately 30% to over 50%. Since 2019, private enterprises have become China's largest foreign trade business entities and a vital force in international trade cooperation. With national support in strengthening overseas intellectual property protection, overseas investment operations, and the protection of rights and interests, private enterprises have accelerated their pace of "going global," [4] continuously enhancing their international competitiveness and expanding the influence of Chinese brands.
Private enterprises are an important force for promoting shared development. The private economy provides 80% of urban jobs and absorbs over 70% of the migrant rural labor force and 90% of new employment. It is the primary sector for entrepreneurship and employment in China. By promoting resident employment and income growth, it facilitates shared development and common prosperity for the whole society. The private economy is also a major contributor to redistribution and third-class distribution [5]; it provides over 50% of tax revenue, acting as a crucial force for enhancing redistribution capacity. In the past decade, donations from private enterprises have increased from 50% to nearly 80% of total national charitable donations, with the average scale of donations growing at an average annual rate of about 20%. They have become the backbone of charitable causes.
Currently, as a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation evolves and deepens, the high-quality development of the private economy faces historic new opportunities and new spaces. Moving forward, we must focus on solving the difficulties and challenges faced by the private economy in the process of reform, development, and industrial transformation and upgrading. We must further optimize the environment for the healthy and high-quality development of the private economy through institutional, legal, policy, and public opinion channels.
We must improve the financing support policy system for private enterprises, refine the credit enhancement system for small and medium-sized private enterprises, and exert great effort to solve the problems of "difficult and expensive financing" for private enterprises. We should strengthen the punishment for dishonesty and legal recourse, creating a rule-of-law environment where people "dare not owe" and "cannot owe" money, focusing on resolving the issue of arrears owed to private enterprises. We support capable private enterprises to take the lead in undertaking major national technological breakthrough tasks, further open major national scientific research infrastructure to private firms, support the open sharing of public R&D and common technology platforms, and drive the private economy to play a greater role in scientific and technological innovation.
We must continuously improve basic market economy institutions such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit. We should deeply break down barriers to market access, continuously promote the fair opening of competitive fields in infrastructure to all types of business entities, improve long-term mechanisms for private enterprises to participate in major national project construction, and clean up or abolish various regulations and practices that hinder the national unified market and fair competition.
We must protect the property rights of various ownership economies equally and permanently according to the law, further strengthening the protection of private enterprise property rights and the rights of entrepreneurs. We should strengthen law enforcement supervision and conduct concentrated rectifications of arbitrary charges, fines, inspections, and seizures. Relying on industry associations and chambers of commerce, we should establish platforms for protecting the rights of private enterprises, strengthen the protection of original innovation by private firms, and increase the intensity of intellectual property protection law enforcement. We should also improve the long-term supervision system for enterprise-related fees and the legal and regulatory system for clearing arrears owed to enterprises.
We must actively create a social atmosphere that promotes the high-quality development of the private economy, tell the stories of enterprise development effectively, broadcast the voice of the private economy's development in the New Era, and vigorously carry forward the spirit of entrepreneurship. We must resolutely resist and refute erroneous remarks that slander, spread rumors about, or smear private enterprises and entrepreneurs. We should deeply implement the "New Era Private Economy Personnel Cultivation and Empowerment Plan" to create a favorable atmosphere of full respect, care, and support for the private economy.
(Author: Guo Chunli, Vice President of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research)
Source: Guangming Daily (February 27, 2025, Page 15)
Web Editor: Hui Hui