Opinion

1. Supporting the healthy development of venture capital

This year's Report on the Work of the Government proposes to refine the differentiated oversight system for venture capital funds and provide greater policy-backed financial support to accelerate the development of venture capital investment and the growth of patient capital. Since last year, relevant policies have been introduced to address the difficulties and obstacles faced by the development of China's venture capital market, accelerating the creation of a favorable ecosystem to support the development of venture capital and playing a positive role in promoting technological innovation.

2. Optimizing the layout of China's strategic scientific and technological resources

This year's Report on the Work of the Government proposes to optimize the layout of China's strategic scientific and technological resources. Experts say that under the background of the accelerated evolution of the world's unprecedented major changes, and the deepening of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, optimizing the layout of national strategic scientific and technological resources is an inevitable choice for China to accelerate the self-reliance and strength in science and technology and steadily build China into a science and technology powerhouse.

Policy

1. According to the Cyberspace Administration of China, since the implementation of the Regulations on Promoting and Regulating Cross-border Data Flows in March 2024, a number of measures to facilitate cross-border data flows have been introduced, significantly reducing the time required for data export security assessments, continuously improving the compliance capabilities of enterprise data export, and achieving positive results in data export security management.

2. The National Financial Regulatory Administration recently issued the management measures for agency sales business conducted by commercial banks to strengthen supervision and management and promote its healthy and orderly development.

3. The General Office of the State Council forwarded a notice on March 26 from the Ministry of Commerce on measures to turn a number of cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing into international consumption centers in a bid to create a consumption environment with global appeal.

Data

1. In 2024, 1.326 billion Chinese were covered by the country's national basic medical insurance, accounting for 95 percent of the population, according to statistics released by the National Healthcare Security Administration on March 21.

2. China Mobile generated RMB 1,040.8 billion in operating revenue in 2024, with a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent. Among them, the revenue of telecommunication service reached RMB 889.5 billion, up 3.0 percent year on year, China Mobile said recently.

3. China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) surged 9.1 percent year on year to USD 22.97 billion during the first two months in 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce released recently. The data also showed that Chinese companies' non-financial ODI in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative was USD 5.52 billion, up 17.6 percent from the previous year.

4. China's water and soil erosion area decreased last year amid the country's efforts to restore the ecological environment, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. China's water and soil erosion area stood at 2.60 million square km in 2024, down 25,700 square km, or 0.98 percent, compared with 2023, according to the results of national monitoring of soil and water loss. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region saw the most progress in tackling the issue, with its erosion-affected area shrinking by 2.48 percent, 2.53 times the national average, the ministry said.

5. Since the inception of Zhongguancun Forum in 2007, the cumulative foreign trade volume of the Zhongguancun innovation hub in Beijing has surpassed RMB 1 trillion, with the private sector contributing over 50 percent and high-tech products accounting for more than 70 percent, according to Beijing Customs.

6. British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca signed a landmark agreement of USD 2.5 billion recently to invest in Beijing over the next five years. The deal was inked with the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. It marks the largest single investment in Beijing's biopharmaceutical sector in recent years, spanning multiple stages from research and development (R&D) to manufacturing and commercialization. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will establish a global strategic R&D center in Beijing, its sixth worldwide and second in China after one in Shanghai.

7. Through intelligent, green and integrated technological renovations this year, over 80 percent of China's steel enterprises have built intelligent computing data centers or adopted large-scale AI models. This will drive technological innovation and industrial upgrading of the steel industry.

8. The Ministry of Civil Affairs projects that China's silver economy will grow to 9 percent of GDP by 2035.

9. Hong Kong has signed investment agreements with 33 economies and free trade agreements with 21 economies, John Lee Ka-chiu, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said during The fourth Global Free Trade Port Development Forum.

10. China's service retail sales grew 4.9 percent year on year in the first two months of 2025, with tourism and transportation services posting double-digit growth, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

(Source: Economic Daily)