China's easing of business rules lauded

China watchers in Washington welcomed the news that the number of small-business registrations in China has risen by almost 50 percent. [Special coverage]

"Generally, it's a very positive sign," Nicholas Lardy, the Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told China Daily on Monday.

Lardy attended a panel discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He was referring to comments made by Premier Li Keqiang at the conclusion of the National People's Congress (NPC) meeting in Beijing on March 15.

Lardy said that all minimum capital requirements to start a liability business in China have been eliminated.

"That gives the entrepreneurs [the ability] to start a liability company more easily than in the past," he said. "It's a step forward. Though it is still not very clear what that 46 percent really means, it would definitely boost China's entrepreneurship."

Dali L. Yang, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, noted that Li has been emphasizing entrepreneurship. The Chinese government has been reducing the number of government approvals required for new businesses, and the number of enterprise registrations in 2014 was up by 46 percent.

But Li also said that even 7 percent economic growth would be hard to achieve in China this year.

Yang said that restrained outlook has become more accepted in China. "It's about being realistic," Yang said.

Christopher K. Johnson, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, said that Li's report put a "heavy emphasis" on innovation. Johnson said that it was clear that "building a high-tech economy would be a key theme for China's 13th Five-Year Plan".

The NPC voted to revise China's Legislation Law on March 15.