Beijing: China’s State Council has given the green light to 10 projects designed to pilot comprehensive reforms on the market-based allocation of production factors. The initiative is effective immediately and is set to run for two years. This move is part of China’s wider strategy to foster new quality productive forces, enhance the development of a unified national market, and advance the construction of a high-standard socialist market economy.
According to Lao News Agency, the reforms will be implemented in major cities including Zhengzhou, Chongqing, and Chengdu, as well as specific areas of Beijing and several provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Hunan, and Guangdong. The focus in these pilot regions will be on eliminating institutional barriers that obstruct the free flow and efficient allocation of production factors. The initiative aims to ensure that economic entities, regardless of ownership, have equal access to production factors, fair participation in market competition, and equal legal protection.
Li Chunlin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated at a press conference that the pilot regions are expected to play a pioneering and exemplary role in resolving challenges faced by the current factor market. They will also contribute to building experience that can be replicated and scaled. Li emphasized that these reforms will empower local economies by bolstering the supply of production factors and stimulating endogenous momentum and innovative vitality.
China has been actively working towards promoting the market-based allocation of production factors, which includes traditional elements like land, labor, and capital, while also accelerating the development of technology and data factor markets. In April 2020, China issued a guideline to improve this allocation, followed by a document in January 2022 outlining a roadmap through 2025 to deepen these reforms.