China's private sector poised for growth amid shift to high-quality development: experts

China's pivot from high-speed growth to high-quality development has unleashed a new era of opportunities for private enterprises, with economists predicting a surge in growth prospects and potential.

The country's private sector is in the spotlight this week after Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a symposium on private enterprises on Monday, which also gathered senior representatives from a number of prominent private businesses in China.

In a speech at the meeting, Xi urged efforts to promote the healthy and high-quality development of the country's private sector and said now is "a prime time for private enterprises and entrepreneurs to give full play to their capabilities."

Experts said the symposium sends positive signals towards the development of private enterprises in China, and with the country's private sector now poised for greater growth, many believe the technological, scientific, and economic strengths of this industry will serve as key drivers.

"China's private sector has developed significantly over the years, laying a solid foundation for future growth. At the same time, our country's comprehensive strength, scientific and technological strength and economic strength have also stepped up to a new level. Our human resources and talent quality are constantly improving, and the 1.4 billion Chinese people have a huge demand. All these have created great opportunities for the development of private enterprises," said Huang Hanquan, director of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Bai Chong'en, dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, highlighted the benefits of China's private economy, emphasizing its unique strengths and contributions to the country's development.

"The private sector can make a great contribution to innovation, especially in some relatively unknown and pioneering fields. Private enterprises have their advantages in this regard. Second, private sector players are usually more sensitive to the needs of residents, and can more easily grasp some new changes in residents' demands, and provide needed products and services according to the changes. We hope that the private sector can play a greater role in this respect," said Bai.

Innovation has become the most important driving force for many Chinese private enterprises, with eight out of every 10 newly developed products in China coming from private enterprises and nine of every 10 high-tech enterprises being private enterprises.

While opportunities arise, they are often accompanied by difficulties and challenges that must be navigated, according to Bai.

"The development of China's private economy faces numerous challenges, including common difficulties shared by all enterprises, such as changes in the international environment. In addition, the constantly changing economic structure also requires enterprises to constantly update their development mode and adapt to the changes," he said.

China's private sector poised for growth amid shift to high-quality development: experts

China has been playing a key role in bringing a sense of stability to the world and continuing to promote globalization against a turbulent international backdrop, according to a British scholar as he gave his assessment of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) which lays out the country's development vision for the years ahead.

Renowned British scholar Martin Jacques, a former senior research fellow in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, shared his take on the recently approved outline of China's 15th Five-Year Plan, a key blueprint which maps out China's policy priorities through to the end of the decade.

The plan notes that China advocates practicing true multilateralism, upholding the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

It says China will also seek to expand its global partnership network and guide the international order toward a more fair and just direction.

Despite current geopolitical tensions, Jacques says China is responding to a turbulent world full of uncertainties in a calm and rational manner.

"We are living in dangerous times, unpredictable times, and I think China has found a way in this new, difficult era, in the big power relationship [with the United States], to handle it in a calm way, not rise to the bait, and seek to, as far as possible, keep the relationship on a relatively even keel," he said.

China has also pledged to commit to openness and cooperation against the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, and has vowed to share opportunities and pursue common development with all countries.

Noting the wave of anti-free trade sentiment and protectionist policies which have emerged in the United States, particularly under the administrations of U.S. President Donald Trump, Jacques says that globalization will remain the prevailing trend and believes China has been able to find successful approaches to advance international cooperation amid the current challenges.

"I think globalization is the long-term historic trend. But that doesn't mean globalization is always in good health, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have setbacks. [We are] now in a period where globalization first of all, has been slowed and in key respects reversed, but at the same time we've seen it taking new forms. The Belt and Road Initiative is a very important form of globalization, and it's been very successful," he said.

China striving for stability against unpredictable int'l backdrop: British scholar