At the State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on May 11, it was decided that streamlining administration and power delegation would continue to be promoted. Investment project approvals will also be further simplified to reduce costs and stimulate private investment vitality.

Cutting investment project approval items will improve efficiency for enterprises entering the market, said Zhu Lijia, a professor of public administration at the Chinese Academy of Governance. Administration approvals that go against the order of market economy must be cancelled, he said.

At the end of 2015, a joint approval network platform for investment projects in Hubei province was officially launched.

The joint approval platform can further reform the administration approval system and accelerate reform of the investment system, said Li Lecheng, director of the development and reform committee in Hubei province.

Zhou Jingtong, research head of the macro-economy and policy division of the Bank of China’s Institute of International Finance, also agreed that cutting investment approval items can help promote private investment.

“The most basic thing is to optimize market environment and create an equal and relaxed environment for private capital,” said Zhou. “Surely this cannot be achieved in one day. It needs a long-term process.”