The vice minister of the SAMR called for fair competition to become the foundation of a unified national market and a key instrument for integrating China into the global economy.
Fair competition is essential to connecting China’s domestic and international markets, supporting a strong and resilient national economy, and building a first-class, law-based international business environment, a senior Chinese market regulatory official said.
Meng Yang, a vice minister at the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) made the remarks in a bylined article published in China Cadres Tribune, a Central Party School journal for senior officials.
Meng’s commentary was published shortly before this year’s Fair Competition Policy Publicity Week, which runs from Sept. 8 to 12 and promotes China’s evolving competition policy through nationwide campaigns and international engagement, including events with foreign enforcement officials.
The article positions fair competition as the foundation of the government’s push to build a unified national market — a major economic policy goal laid out by the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
Meng’s article contributes to a broader political narrative framing fair competition as a pillar of high-quality development, economic security and global competitiveness. He described fair competition as a key mechanism for aligning domestic development with global rules.
“The unified national market is by no means intended to operate behind closed doors, but to face the world with full openness,”
he wrote.
Protecting and promoting fair competition means actively aligning with high-standard international economic rules, deepening institutional opening in competition policy, and fostering a world-class business environment, he argued.
These efforts, he said, will help draw in advanced global resources, strengthen domestic and international economic activity, and support Chinese companies in expanding abroad and integrating more deeply into global supply chains, bolstering the security and stability of China’s development.
Reflecting priorities set at the third plenum of the 20th Party Congress, Meng argued that fair competition is the foundation for expanding domestic market scale and improving factor allocation. It also helps achieve a dynamic balance between supply and demand, and improve both resource-allocation efficiency and overall economic performance.
A fair competition environment, he said, can stimulate innovation and allow competitive businesses to thrive, while strengthening antitrust and anti-unfair competition enforcement, correcting improper market conduct and government intervention, and tackling administrative monopolies and persistent local protectionism.
Addressing challenges in the evolving digital economy, Meng warned that some companies exploit data, algorithms, technology and rules to engage in "algorithmic collusion," self-preferencing and other new forms of monopolistic and unfair competition.
Such practices are more technical, concealed and complex, and pose greater harm, he said, calling for improved rules and the use of Big Data and artificial intelligence to strengthen smart regulation.
In addition, he emphasized strengthening the role of the State Council’s Antimonopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Commission Office by enhancing inter-departmental coordination and information sharing, and by promoting more robust regulatory mechanisms in key industries to close loopholes.
Source: MLex
