3. We deepened reform of key areas and crucial links to energize the market and stimulate social creativity.

We continued reforms to develop the socialist market economy and struck a proper balance between the government and the market.

This enabled the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation and the government to better play its role, thus promoting both an efficient market and an effective government.

Our drive to transform government functions continued.

We completed institutional reform of both the State Council and local governments.

We accelerated efforts to build a unified national market, developed a high-standard market system, and worked to create a market-oriented and law-based business environment in keeping with international standards.

Great truths are always simple, and simple government administration is always most effective.

We made consistent efforts to promote reforms despite the fact that they affected the interests of government itself.

We kept working to streamline government administration and delegate power.

We broadened market access with full implementation of the negative list system.

Since the introduction of this system, the negative list has been shortened by 64 percent, and the practice of list-based management has been applied to all items requiring government approval.

Over the years, we have cancelled or delegated to lower-level authorities the power of administrative approval for over 1,000 items and slashed the number of investment items subject to central government approval by over 90 percent.

The number of industrial production permit categories has been reduced from 60 to 10, and the approval time for construction projects has been cut to no more than 120 working days.

We carried out institutional reforms in the business sector and introduced the reform to separate out the business license from certificates required for starting a business.

Today, the average time it takes to register a business is less than four working days, down from more than a month; and a simplified deregistration system is in place for MSMEs.

While delegating power, we also improved regulation.

We strengthened ongoing and ex post oversight.

We saw to it that regulatory responsibilities were strictly fulfilled, that no regulatory vacuums were left, and that no power was delegated at the expense of regulation.

We beefed up quality and safety supervision for food, drugs, and other key items, ensured impartial regulation by adopting practices such as the random selection of inspectors and inspection targets and the prompt release of results, and set standards for the exercise of discretionary administrative powers.

We took stronger action against monopolies and unfair competition, fully implemented the system of fair competition review, and reformed the system for enforcing anti-monopoly laws.

We conducted regulation and provided guidance in accordance with the law to promote the sound development of capital and took resolute, law-based moves to prevent the blind expansion of capital.

We continued to upgrade government services and worked to provide more one-stop services.

Certification requirements were reduced, and the development of a digital government was accelerated.

Now, more than 90 percent of government services can be accessed online; over 200 high-demand services, including household certification and the transfer of social security accounts, can be handled on an inter-provincial basis.

All expressway toll booths on provincial borders have been removed.

We formulated and implemented regulations on improving the business environment, on market entity registration and administration, on promoting development of individually owned businesses, and on ensuring payments to SMEs.

These reforms have provided people seeking to go into business with greater convenience and scope.

By the end of last year, there were over 52 million enterprises and more than 110 million self-employed individuals in China, and the total number of market entities had surpassed the 160-million mark, three times the figure a decade ago.

As a result, the internal momentum for development has increased remarkably.

We promoted the common development of enterprises under all forms of ownership.

We upheld and improved China’s fundamental socialist economic systems and worked unswervingly both to consolidate and develop the public sector and to encourage, support, and guide development of the non-public sector.

The tasks set out in the three-year action plan for SOE reform were completed and the modern corporate structure was improved, thus enabling SOEs to upgrade and restructure their operations so as to focus on their primary responsibilities and core business and enhance quality and performance.

We promoted the sound development of private businesses by removing hidden barriers of various forms and ensuring all enterprises received policy support on an equal basis.

This has boosted the confidence of private investors.

We improved the system of property rights protection to safeguard entrepreneurs’ lawful rights and interests and promote the entrepreneurial spirit.

We continued to reform the fiscal, taxation, and financial systems.

We deepened reform of the budget management system and boosted budget transparency.

We advanced reforms to divide fiscal powers and spending responsibilities between central and local governments and improved the system for managing local government debt.

We established an individual income tax system based on both adjusted gross income and specific income types and continued to deepen reform of the tax collection and administration system.

We promoted reform of the financial regulatory system and encouraged small and medium banks to replenish their capital and defuse risks through reform.

We advanced reforms to implement a registration-based IPO system, refined the underlying systems of the capital market, and strengthened legislation for financial stability.