What's been achieved bodes well for the future

At a symposium with corporate leaders in Beijing on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping expressed his appreciation for their contributions to the country's efforts to contain the novel coronavirus and revive the economy.

This not only showed that the country's top leadership recognizes these contributions, but also its anticipation that they will continue to make all-out efforts to help stabilize the fundamentals of the economy, which is crucial for realizing this year's socioeconomic development objectives.

It should be borne in mind that businesses, of various kinds of ownership, had to make huge sacrifices as the country put the economy into suspended animation so it could concentrate on the battle against the novel coronavirus.

This enabled it to get a grip on it within a comparatively short time, but posed tremendous challenges for companies. That they have stood up to the challenges enabled the economy to rebound robustly in the second quarter, a growth of 3.2 percent year-on-year, a remarkable achievement in the circumstances and "better than expected".

Among the seven top executives invited to deliver a speech at the meeting, one was from the State-owned Sinochem Group, four were private business owners, and two were representatives of foreign companies－Microsoft and Panasonic to be specific.

This not only served to highlight the importance of the private sector－which accounts for more than 50 percent of the country's government tax revenue, over 70 percent of technological innovation and more than 80 percent of urban jobs－but also the country's commitment to opening-up.

Xi pledged that China will continue to cut taxes, fees, and interest rates to ease the financial burden on enterprises and improve the business environment for all market players to promote their vitality. And notably, given the beggar-thy-neighbor policies of the United States which seems obsessed with blacklisting Chinese companies, Xi took the opportunity to not only consolidate confidence in the prospects of the Chinese economy, but also in the country's continued resolve to further open up to the world.

This was an important meeting at a special moment. Its intended audience was by no means limited to the business community. Xi's remarks were also addressed to those duty-bound to serve the companies at home, and those doing the opposite elsewhere in the world.

So Xi's heartfelt words to the entrepreneurs should not only be taken as the central authorities' recognition of their role in realizing that better than expected performance but also of their importance in maintaining China's links with the world.