Premier vows devolved power will help boost Chinese entrepreneurship

The central government will continue to streamline administration and delegate more power to lower authorities to encourage entrepreneurship, Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday.

China will continue to lower market thresholds and create an environment of fair competition, he told a news conference after the closing of this year's National People's Congress session.

"We have the resilience to (push forward the streamlining) no matter what kind of problems or resistance we encounter," he said.

Governments at all levels should integrate administrative services with the internet to make life easier for the public as well as encourage "law-abiding market entities" and give a green light to entrepreneurs and innovators, Li said.

The core of simplifying administrative procedures is changing government functions and improving the government-market relationship, "which cannot be achieved overnight", he said.

Efforts will be made to further reduce government approvals and certifications, he said, adding that authorities need to "divert more energy to things the government should be in charge of", such as supervising and optimizing public services as well as poverty reduction, education and healthcare.