Private enterprises vital for development: China Daily editorial

The role of the private sector can never be overestimated given the fact that it contributes 50 percent of the country's tax revenues, 60 percent of its gross domestic product, 70 percent of its technological innovations, 80 percent of its jobs and 90 percent of new jobs and enterprises.

How absurd and ridiculous it is for some to suggest that the private economy has finished its historical mission and has to quit.

If it is not due to misinformation or ignorance, it must be out of ulterior motives that such a view is being expressed.

Little wonder that President Xi Jinping said in a letter to private entrepreneurs on Saturday: "The historical contribution of nonpublic economy is indelible, its important role in the national economy is indisputable and any remarks or moves to underestimate or deny the role of this sector are definitely wrong."

To be exact, China could not be what it is today without private enterprises, which injected energy into the national economy in the early 1980s. It was the responsibility system that contracted rural arable land to individual villagers that had made it possible for the country's agriculture to feed its population at that time. And it was the rise of township enterprises in the early stage of the country's reform and opening up that blazed the trail for the overall reform of the country's industrial sector.

The State-owned enterprises are pillars of the national economy and their role is indispensable. But that does not mean that the national economy can do without the sound growth of the private sector.

Despite its status as the second-largest economy in the world, China is still a developing country when it comes to its average per capita GDP and disposable income. The sound growth of the nonpublic economy is not only complementary to the State-owned economy, it is necessary to support the development of the national economy.

In his letter, Xi pledged that the Communist Party of China Central Committee will offer unwaveringly support to the private sector and he called on private entrepreneurs to grasp the trend of the era, and innovate and create without being distracted so as create a better tomorrow for the private economy.

The market responded positively to this promise, with most Asian markets up on Monday.

Not only is it clearly not the end of days for the private economy, but the private sector will be an important driving force for continued economic development.