China moves to clear blockades for unified market

Chinese authorities on Tuesday released a work plan on the removal of regional blockades across the country in an effort to build a unified and open market system. The plan, jointly issued by 12 departments including the Ministry of Commerce and State Administration of Taxation, outlined six tasks for the move, including improving taxation rules for trans-regional business operators and addressing discriminatory pricing practices for non-local products and services. This is the government's latest effort to integrate the country's regionally fragmented domestic market -- in which local authorities' obsession with regional prosperity has fueled a rise in protectionism -- into a unified market with free flow of capital, labor and goods. China aims to build a united and open market system with orderly competition that allows the market to play a "decisive" role in allocating resources, according to a reform decision released last month after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.