ABSTRACT
The extraordinary growth of China’s private sector has occurred despite a highly unfavourable business environment. In a country whose production and commercial activities have been dominated by large state-owned enterprises for decades, there is still much discrimination against smaller and private enterprises in business registration, taxation, financing, foreign trading rights and other areas. Furthermore, the public perception of the private sector does not yet reflect the economic reality or the official statistics. This increases the challenge of developing a regulatory framework that allows a greater and more effective participation by private firms.
