Xi stresses anti-monopoly regulation, anti-pollution fight, better reserve system

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday stressed efforts to strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition regulations, improve the country's reserve system and fight against pollution.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while presiding over the 21st meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform.

The meeting reviewed and approved a series of guidelines, including those on strengthening anti-monopoly regulation and promoting fair competition, those on improving the reserve system for materials of strategic importance or for emergency use, those on fighting pollution and those on giving better play to the supervisory role of statistical work.

The implementation of anti-monopoly regulations and policies promoting fair competition is an intrinsic requirement for improving the socialist market economic system, Xi said, underlining efforts to foster a level playing field, create broad development space for all types of market entities and better protect the rights and interests of consumers in accordance with the strategic vision of fostering a new development paradigm, and promoting high-quality development and common prosperity.

Xi also called for efforts to optimize the mechanisms for the storage and management of strategic and emergency response supplies to strengthen the country's capability to guard against major risks.

The country's anti-pollution achievements should be further consolidated, Xi said, stressing targeted, scientific and law-based measures in the fight against pollution.

He also underlined the supervisory role of statistical work, better data quality and faster construction of a statistical supervision system that is complete, efficient and effective.

Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng, all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the central committee for deepening overall reform, attended the meeting.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, a series of major decisions have been made on anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition to improve the fair competition system and foster a unified and open-market system with orderly competition, said the meeting.

China has stepped up anti-monopoly supervision, investigated and punished relevant platform enterprises with behaviors of monopoly and unfair competition in accordance with the law, the meeting said, noting initial progress on preventing the disorderly expansion of capital and the steady improvement of fair competition in the market.

The meeting emphasized the significance of balancing development and security, efficiency and equality, vitality and order, as well as domestic and international markets. Measures should be taken to guide enterprises to serve the overall interests of economic and social development under the leadership of the CPC.

The meeting underlined the importance of moving faster to improve the market-access system, the fair competition review mechanism, the fair competition regulation system on the digital economy, and the system for preventing and restraining the abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition, said the meeting.

Efforts should be made to promote the sound interaction and coordinated development of large, medium-sized and small enterprises, it said.

It underscored unswervingly promoting high-level opening-up, protecting property rights and intellectual property rights, and making policies more transparent and predictable.

The meeting emphasized strengthening enterprises' awareness of fair competition and guiding the whole society to form a market environment that advocates, protects and promotes fair competition.

It stressed strengthening law enforcement and jurisdiction in key areas including the platform economy, scientific and technological innovation, information security and ensuring people's livelihoods.

The anti-monopoly mechanism should be improved and the anti-monopoly supervision force should be strengthened, the meeting said.

China's state reserves and emergency response capacity should match its status as a major country, said the meeting, which urged efforts to shore up weak links in the reserves of key materials and establish a unified system for providing strategic and emergency response supplies.

The meeting decided to improve the mechanism of market adjustment for strategic reserves, strengthen the ability to reserve and adjust bulk commodities and have the strategic reserves play a better role in stabilizing the market.

China has entered a crucial period in advancing ecological civilization in the 14th Five-Year Plan period, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions, according to the meeting.

The country aims to promote the synergy of anti-pollution and carbon reduction work, facilitate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and realize qualitative changes in improving the ecology.

The meeting urged more efforts in paying close attention to the key areas and links related to pollution prevention and control, while concentrating on solving prominent ecological problems that affect people's lives.

More work should be done to implement a total ban on imported waste and make breakthroughs in key regions and fields, as well as in terms of major indicators, said the meeting.

In terms of environmental protection, the meeting decided that the ecosystem should be taken into consideration as a whole, and the formation of an integrated plan for reducing pollution and carbon emissions should be accelerated.

To promote green development in the country, measures should be taken to accelerate adjustments in the structure of industry, energy, transport and land use, while strictly controlling projects with high energy consumption and high pollution, according to the meeting.

It also called for support for the economical and efficient use of resources, as well as fostering new impetus for green and low-carbon development.

Concerning institutional guarantees for ecological conservation, the meeting stressed the strengthening of laws and regulations, and severe punishments for relevant crimes.

Statistical supervision work should focus on the evaluation of the implementation of China's major development strategies, the handling of major risks and the solution of prominent problems that are of great concern to the people, it said.

The meeting also stressed efforts to get a clear sense of situations and ensure data accuracy, so that the results of statistical supervision can stand the tests of practice and time.