China Focus: Political advisors pool wisdom to boost economy

Chinese political advisors put their heads together on Thursday to offer prescriptions for the country's slowing economy, appealing for deepened reform and stricter financial oversight.

Fifteen members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) addressed a plenary meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

Renowned economist Li Yining told fellow advisors that China has made supply-side structural reform a new economic strategy.

China's rapid growth in the past three decades was fueled by capital investment, exports and consumption -- usually thought of as being on the demand side. However, supply-side reform aims to increase the supply of goods and services by stimulating business through tax cuts, entrepreneurship and innovation.

While stimulation on the demand side tends to be short-lived, Chinese leaders hope supply-side reform can generate sustainable and quality growth.

Li highlighted an overhaul of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as a top priority for supply-side structural reform.

He said the SOE overhaul has two dimensions. One is that authorities in charge of state assets should only be responsible for maintaining and increasing the value of state assets, and allocating well such assets. The other is that SOEs should be dealt with differently on the basis of industries they belong to.

He also called for stricter procedures in carrying out employee stock ownership plans.

Li Daokui, an economics professor with Tsinghua University, cautioned that China's economic operation and upgrade have been hindered by stock market plunges and expectations on a falling yuan.

China should integrate its financial regulators responsible for banking, securities, insurance and trust together to form a unified supervising body at a proper time so as to ward off systemic risks, Li said.

"The current supervision system exposed its defects when the government was trying to tame market volatility last year," Li said.

Chinese shares crashed last summer, ending a rampant market boosted by margin financing, partly blamed on poor coordination between various regulators.

He also called for the authorities to crack down on insider trading and establish a market stability fund. "The government should overhaul the financial market in the way it fights corruption," he said.

Noting that the growth of an already large-scale agricultural sector in China is hindered by insufficient innovation, China Agricultural University president Ke Bingsheng proposed innovative concepts in response.

The current subsidy policy should shift from direct subsidy on agricultural products to farmland. Specifically, the change should be made to new agricultural entities like family farms and modern agricultural enterprises, said Ke.

Ke also called for better innovation in technologies such as biotechnology, information technology and equipment technology in agriculture.

Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change, meanwhile elaborated on how the country should go green.

China should formulate and publish a low-carbon development strategy for the years leading up to 2050 as soon as possible, he said, adding that legislation aimed to counter climate change should be accelerated.

He also said South-South cooperation in the field should be strengthened. Endi