China's top economic planner mulls reform plans to foster new quality productive forces

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planning agency, has been accelerating the study of a batch of reform plans, which will be rolled out soon as the country steps up efforts to foster new quality productive forces, according to a report on Monday.

The plans, which cover several key areas of reform, including state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the private economy and access for foreign investment, come after the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put an emphasis on improving institutions and mechanisms for fostering new quality productive forces.

In a report on Monday, China Media Group (CMG) said that the NDRC has recently been accelerating the study of a batch of new reform plans that will be implemented soon.

Specifically, the NDRC is stepping up the study and formation of guidelines for optimization and structural adjustments of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), pushing ahead the drafting of legislation on promoting the private economy, and implementing a new version of the negative list for market access, Hu Zhaohui, an official with the NDRC’s development planning department, was quoted as saying in the CMG report.

The efforts aim to give full play to the leading role of economic system reform, guide more advanced productive elements toward new quality productive forces, and create new development momentum and new advantages, Hu said.

Fostering new quality productive forces has become a top priority in China's pursuit of high-quality development amid domestic and external challenges.

The communique of the third plenary session released last month stated that in accordance with the Central Committee's decisions and plans concerning economic work, China will ensure effective implementation of macro policies, strive to expand domestic demand, and develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions.

Notably, the communique said that efforts will be taken to improve the institutions and mechanisms for fostering new quality productive forces in line with local conditions.

New quality productive forces feature high technology, high efficiency and high quality. By cultivating new quality productive forces, China is aiming to focus on frontier industries that have huge prospects in the future. China has made great strides in boosting innovation and cultivating new quality productive forces.

In the first half of 2024, the added value of high-tech manufacturing at large companies increased by 8.7 percent year-on-year, 2.7 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the companies' industrial added value, according to the CMG report.

Various Chinese industries, including new-energy vehicles (NEVs), solar batteries and green shipbuilding, are taking the lead worldwide. For example, both output and sales of NEVs grew by more than 30 percent year-on-year during the first half of 2024, official data showed.