Market economy buttressed by rule of law

Since taking office a year ago, the new Chinese leadership has placed reforms at the top of its agenda, pledging to build a socialist country under the rule of law. This is a strategically important goal for China and requires accelerating the building of a market economy that is guided and governed by the rule of law.

For years, it has been difficult to define the relationship between the government and the market in China, and economic reform efforts have made no substantial breakthrough. The underlying cause is the missing role of rule of law in supervising the government's use of power and the government's undue intervention in the market. Accelerating the building of a rule-of-law market economy is conducive to standardizing and imposing restraints on the use of public power, so that the market can play a "decisive" role in the distribution of resources.

To this end, a reform action plan aimed at building a rule-of-law market economy should be formulated as soon as possible, and priority should be given to building a business environment based on the rule of law while re-examining and revising the regulations that undermine the "decisive" role of the market to encourage fair and orderly competition.