China's economy has turned from the stage of rapid growth to high-quality development, and as a result, will face increasingly complex problems and challenges. Accelerating reform and opening-up should made substantive progress in key areas to achieve high-quality development, according to Liu Shijin, vice-chairman of the China Development Research Foundation, and deputy director of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

The main contradiction in China's economic operation is still about the supply-side structure, Shijin said, according to the DRC website. To meet that challenge, the 2018 annual Central Economic Work Conference concluded that China must unswervingly persist in supply-side structural reform, adopt more reform measures and use more market-oriented and legalized solutions.

Reform needs to be further deepened to form institutional mechanisms and policy systems compatible with the stage of high-quality development, Liu added.

China should restructure local competition mechanisms for high-quality development and give priority to reforms in key areas that are compatible with the stage of high-quality development, Liu stated, adding that the government should deepen the reform of State-owned enterprises, taxation and finance, land, market access and social management, as well as strengthen the basic position of competition policies and create an institutional environment for fair competition.