China will raise the quality of listed companies to ensure the steady and healthy growth of capital markets and boost their support for the real economy, according to the State Council’s executive meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.
The Chinese government will work to refine the institutions and the rules for the corporate governance of listed companies, improve their information transparency and disclosures and strengthen the mechanism of diverse exit options for listed firms.
These measures are also aimed at protecting the rights and interests of investors.
By the end of September this year, the number of publicly-traded companies on the Chinese mainland exceeded 4,000, with a total market cap of more than 79 trillion yuan (US$11.58 trillion).
It was decided at the meeting that in developing well-regulated, transparent, open, vibrant and resilient capital markets, the institutions and rules for corporate governance of listed companies must be refined.
Shareholders with a controlling stake, actual controllers of companies, directors, supervisors and senior management must fulfill their statutory duties and responsibilities.
The mechanism for institutional investors to participate in corporate governance will be enhanced and guidelines on internal controls will be widely applied. Information transparency and disclosure will be improved.
Greater efforts will be made to enhance the performance of listed companies. Well-run firms will be supported in going public.
Institutions for asset restructuring, acquisition and equity carve-out will be developed, and those for refinancing and bond issuance of listed companies improved. More eligible foreign investors will be allowed to make strategic investments in listed companies.
Emerging industrial sectors
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and three other ministries on Wednesday released guidelines to boost investment in emerging sectors including the 5G, vaccine and semiconductor industries.
Under the guidelines that highlight 20 different development directions, China plans to build 10 strategic emerging industrial bases with global influence, 100 strategic emerging industrial clusters with international competitiveness and foster 1,000 ecosystems with unique characteristics.
The guidelines will reiterate the importance of strategic emerging industries, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system and promote the country’s high-quality economic development, said an NDRC official.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the output of strategic emerging industries accounted for 11.5% of China’s GDP last year, up 3.9 percentage points from 2014.
Medical education
The General Office of the State Council issued a document to urge related departments to develop medical education with innovations, in an effort to cope with new challenges brought by the Covid-19 epidemic and to better implement the Healthy China 2030 strategy, which was announced by President Xi Jinping in October 2016.
According to the document, by 2025, a system for cultivating high-level medical talent – who master not only medicine but also other disciplines – will be built, with an improved incentive mechanism. And by 2030, capabilities will be significantly enhanced in medical research innovations and public health services.
Majors such as clinical medicine and traditional Chinese medicine should recruit students with higher educational backgrounds, and the system for cultivating high-level talent specializing in public health should be established at a faster pace, it said.
Construction of innovative bases for basic research in medicine should be accelerated and a standardized training mechanism for resident doctors perfected, it added.
Company news
At Huawei Connect 2020 starting on Wednesday, Huawei Technologies launched the Intelligent Twins, which uses big data and AI technologies to provide a full series of services covering design, production, logistics, sales and service.
Customers and partners of Huawei can build their own intelligent solutions based on the Intelligent Twins to enable intelligent transformation across industries for all-scenario intelligence.
Intelligent Twins is capable of all-dimensional perception, all-domain collaboration, precise judgment and continuous evolution, delivering a smart experience for people, cities and enterprises in all scenarios.
At this event, the Shenzhen government and Huawei jointly unveiled a project called Shenzhen Intelligent Twins. The project aims to build an integrated deep learning system for citywide coordination. This will turbocharge the intelligent transformation of Shenzhen to new levels.
The event was also attended by China University of Petroleum and China FAW Group, which had success with the Intelligent Twins for the oil and gas industry and manufacturing.
The stories were written by Xu Jiangshan and first published at ATimesCN.com. They were translated by Nadeem Xu.