Liu Yonghao, who was listed by the American magazine Forbes as the richest man on the Chinese mainland, said the Communist Party of China (CPC) is striving for ideological innovation, and it will allow qualified businessmen in the private sector to apply for CPC membership.

The private sector in China accounts for 33 percent of the country's GDP, compared to a share of 37 percent by the State-owned enterprises.

Governments at all levels in China are lifting restrictions on businesses in the private sector.

In Beijing, the local government dismantled all the hurdles for the private sector, offering private businesses the same rights to market access, land use, credit, stock market financing, and export and import trade as the state-owned and collective firms enjoy.

The difficulty to get credit loans remains the bottleneck for privately owned firms to expand their business.

TD Bank Financial Group of Canada believes the ongoing economic restructuring and the tendency of urbanization will enable the sector to contribute more to the long-term economic growth in China.

He Xiaoming, a research fellow with the Chinese government's Economic Restructuring Office, said the control on credit loans should be eased for the private sector, especially middle-sized and small firms.

In 2000 the registered number of private business owners totaled 3.9535 million, and that of private firms, 1.7618 million. With a combined registered capital of 1.33 trillion yuan, the private companies employ 20.1 million workers.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2002）