A file photo of Shanghai. China will gradually remove access restrictions for services industries that do not involve national security or social stability and can rely on full market competition to improve the quality of supply, according to a top document made public on August 21, 2024. Photo:VCG

A top document made public on Wednesday said that China will further improve the market access system, break down market access barriers, and build a market access system that is open, transparent, standardized and orderly, as well as promotes fair competition.

The document further highlighted China's commitment to improving the business environment and expanding high-level opening-up for foreign businesses, experts said.

The document, released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, contained 10 points covering various efforts to improve the market access system, including improving the negative list management model, scientifically setting market access rules, and reasonably setting market access prohibitions and permissions.

Notably, the document said that various market access management measures issued by central and local governments, as well as temporary ones issued by local governments, will be included in a national unified market access negative list. The document called for the gradual removal of market access restriction in the services industry. 

Experts said that the move will further improve the business environment and encourage various types of market entities to enter and fairly compete in industries that will boost vitality. 

"It will further stimulate the vitality and motivation of various entities. Vigorously promoting the reform and innovation of the negative list system for market access will further improve the business environment," Hu Qimu, a deputy secretary-general of the digital-real economies integration Forum 50, told the Global Times. 

China has also been continuously expanding high-level opening-up for foreign businesses, which will create more opportunities for foreign investment in the Chinese market, experts said.

Amid the continuously improving business environment, China's private sector has seen robust growth and sustained development, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the top economic planner. There are now more than 55 million private enterprises in China, accounting for 92.3 percent of all businesses, according to the NDRC.

The document issued on Wednesday also said that China will strengthen the coordinated adjustments of market access policies for domestic and foreign investment, and adhere to the principle of national treatment without reducing the access opportunities of existing business entities.

A State Council executive meeting on Monday approved the 2024 edition of a negative list for foreign investment access, pledging that China will relax restrictions on foreign investment further by completely abolishing entry barriers in the manufacturing sector.

China's continuous opening-up will attract more foreign businesses, which in turn will help boost China's industrial transformation, improve production capacity and elevate China's innovative capabilities, experts said.