On the second meeting of its 12th executive committee held on Dec. 26, 2018, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) released its first blue book on China’s private sector’s performance of fulfilling social responsibility.

Xie Jingrong, vice president of the ACFIC, declared the report on behalf of the organization.

He said, in the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, China’s private sector has grown from weak minimum size to a strong and weighty economic sector, and from domestic to going global. The gigantic achievement is the most significant in China's reform and opening-up achievement and serves as an essential part of China’s national economy.  

In the same time, the awareness of social responsibility in private entrepreneurs have been growing, along with their capability of fulfilling it. Many have presented good models of carrying out corporate social responsibility.

He stressed that the ACFIC attached great importance to guiding private sectors to fulfill their social responsibility by using it as an acting point for promoting the healthy development of private enterprises and entrepreneurs and helping them summarizing experiences and achievements.

Xie generalized the status quo of private sector’s fulfilling social responsibilities from five aspects including economic, legal, and environmental responsibilities and helping charity and alleviating poverty.

In fulfilling economic responsibility, China’s private sector have realized innovation-driven development with high quality, and have achieved weighty growth and constant interest rise. They have become an essential part of sci-tech innovation, the Belt and Road Initiative construction and the military-civilian integration strategy. From 2012 to 2017, the number of private enterprises had grown into 89.7 percent of China’s companies regardless of ownership, with a rise of 10.8 percent from the former 78.9 percent. Its technological innovation accounted for 65 percent in the national number, patent innovation for 75 percent, and new products for 80.8 percent.

In 2017, the import and export volume between China’s private sector and the Belt and Road countries was 619.98 billion US dollars, accounting for 43 percent in China’s national import-export volume with these countries. 

On the 3rd military-civilian integration exhibition, there were 293 technological innovation programs presented by private enterprises, taking up 69 percent of the overall number.

In fulfilling legal responsibility, the private sector has become the main body of national tax avenue. In 2017, their taxation reached 8.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 52.6 percent of the national avenue. The growing volume was 1022.8 billion yuan, taking up 67.1 percent of the overall national tax increment. That means the private sector provide more than a half of national tax avenue and two thirds of the tax increment. 

In fulfilling environmental protection responsibility, private enterprises have strengthened their awareness since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. 48.3 percent of the private sector have weeded out energy-consuming, high-pollution and backward production. 51.3 percent of them have improved the environmental protection quality of their products through technology upgrading. 62.1 percent of them have reached the national environmental protection standards in terms of resource utilization and consumption. 41.2 percent private enterprises have realized resource recycle.

For years, the private sector has been the main body for public charity. Their donation has exceeded 50 percent and even reached 64.6 percent of China’s economic corporate donation, which is higher than the sum of state-owned and foreign-funded companies. There have been 677 foundations in the private sector, accounting for 78 percent of all China’s corporate foundations. In the name list of all “China Charity Award” winners, private entrepreneurs have always take the major part. 

Helping alleviating poverty has been the outstanding aspect of private sector’s fulfilling social responsibility. Since the campaign of “A hundred thousand companies helping a hundred thousand villages” was launched in September 2015, private enterprises have contributed a major part. By the end of June 2018, there have been 55,400 private enterprises taking part in the campaign, helping 7.56 million poverty population through industrial investment of 59.7 billion yuan, charity donation of 11.5 billion yuan and providing 550,000 jobs. 

Xie pointed out that the conception of fulfilling social responsibility for Chinese private sectors is different from that in western countries. In practice, they see more of collective action and are closer to the people.

First, Chinese private enterprises focus on the national situation and policy by responding to the ruling party and government. For example, the private sector have actively participated the “going global”, western development, Belt and Road Initiative, civilian-military integration, and poverty alleviation programs. 

Second, they like taking joint efforts with collective activity such as the “A hundred thousand companies helping a hundred thousand villages” project and the glorious career, which are led by the ACFIC and the China Glorious Career Promotion Association (CGCPA).

Third, development-oriented poverty alleviation is the highlight for private enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities, such as taking part in the CGCPA’s “glorious career”.

At last but not the least, private sectors have organized various and diversified charity activities such as Geely Holding Group’s “poverty alleviation project” and Hodo Group’s “Hodo Double Seventh Festival” (to publicize traditional Chinese valentine’s day).

On the conference, the ACFIC also released “the excellent examples of Chinese private sectors’ fulfilling social responsibilities (2018)”, which writes 20 model cases from private sector including the New Hope Group and the Suning Holdings Group.