In a high-stakes effort to restore business confidence, Zheng Shajie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), convened a pivotal symposium with leaders from the private sector. The meeting, which took place on the anniversary of the Private Economy Promotion Law, signaled Beijing’s urgent desire to align its top-down macro policies with the micro-level realities of a struggling domestic market. Participants included heavyweights from strategic industries such as Delong Steel, Hengrui Medicine, and the artificial intelligence pioneer Zhipu AI.
While the attending executives acknowledged the benefits of recent legal protections and the digital-green transition, their concerns revealed the deep-seated structural issues currently plaguing the world’s second-largest economy. Central to the discussion was the phenomenon of 'involutionary' (nei juan) competition—a term used to describe a destructive cycle of price wars and margin-erasing competition that has hindered innovation and profitability across sectors ranging from steel to high-tech.
Zheng responded with a robust defense of China’s current economic trajectory, citing growth in new energy and advanced supply chains, but he also conceded that policy implementation must be refined. He emphasized that the NDRC is moving toward a more responsive 'feedback loop' with private firms to ensure that the 15th Five-Year Plan—China’s strategic blueprint for 2026–2030—addresses specific pain points like external geopolitical shocks and the need for greater access to national-scale projects.
The NDRC’s commitment to 'curtailing involution' and ensuring 'supply chain autonomy' reflects a broader strategic pivot. Beijing is increasingly aware that without a vibrant private sector, its goals for technological self-reliance and high-quality development remain out of reach. The focus now shifts to whether the promised regulatory cleanups and market-access reforms will translate into tangible 'sense of gain' for entrepreneurs who have remained cautious in recent years.