Wu Qing's Ten Key Points: Discussing GEM Reform and China's Asset Attractiveness

On the afternoon of March 6, 2026, the 14th National People’s Congress held its fourth session in the Media Center News Conference Hall to discuss economic topics. Director of the National Development and Reform Commission Zheng Shanjie, Minister of Finance Lan Fuan, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng, and China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing answered questions from Chinese and foreign journalists on development reform, fiscal budgets, commerce, finance, securities, and related issues.

During the Q&A, Wu Qing discussed the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan and outlined many plans for promoting high-quality development of the capital market over the next five years, including the development of listed companies, deepening reform of the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), optimizing refinancing mechanisms, expanding industry institutions, serving the real economy, strengthening regulation, and protecting investors.

The Surging News summarized ten key points:

1. Stability is an inevitable requirement for high-quality development of the capital market.
2. Further improve the “investability” of listed companies.
3. Replicate and promote beneficial experiences from the Sci-Tech Innovation Board reform, such as pre-IPO review, to the GEM.
4. Optimize refinancing mechanisms with a focus on supporting excellent and innovative companies.
5. Actively support leading securities firms to grow stronger and larger, adhering to the public fund nature.
6. Enable the capital market to serve industrial transformation and high-quality development with new “accelerations.”
7. Deepen regulation of high-frequency quantitative trading and introduce derivative trading supervision measures.
8. Resolutely eliminate the “ecosystem” of financial fraud.
9. Strictly investigate and punish behaviors that harm investors, such as hype, concept speculation, and manipulation.
10. The attractiveness of “Chinese assets” has significantly increased.

Below are the detailed ten key points from Wu Qing’s speech at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress on economic issues.

Key Point 1: Stability is the overall requirement, a prerequisite, and an inevitable demand for high-quality development of the capital market.

Wu Qing stated, “The 14th Five-Year Plan is a critical period for laying a solid foundation and making comprehensive efforts to realize socialist modernization. It is also a key stage for the capital market to move toward high-quality development.” The plan makes important deployments to improve the inclusiveness and adaptability of the capital market system and to develop functions that coordinate investment and financing.

“The China Securities Regulatory Commission will work with relevant parties to implement these measures without fail, focusing on serving Chinese-style modernization and building a strong financial nation. We will coordinate risk prevention, strengthen regulation, and promote high-quality development, striving to achieve new improvements in both quality and scale,” Wu Qing said.

Wu Qing emphasized that first, the market must be more resilient and stable. Stability is the overall requirement, a prerequisite, and an inevitable demand for high-quality development. Efforts will continue to leverage the joint efforts of all parties, improve the “long-term investment” market mechanism and ecosystem, enhance the Chinese-style stability mechanisms, enrich counter-cyclical adjustment tools, and further strengthen internal market stability.

Key Point 2: Further enhance the “investability” of listed companies.

Wu Qing said that efforts will be made to achieve higher quality and better structure among listed companies. The focus is on continuously ensuring the authenticity of listed companies while further improving their “investability.”

“Improve incentive and restraint mechanisms, promote better governance, strengthen dividend payments and buybacks, continuously enhance investment value and returns for investors, activate mergers and acquisitions markets, promote resource allocation efficiency, and help cultivate more world-class enterprises,” Wu Qing stated.

Wu Qing pointed out that over the past two years since the issuance of the new “National Nine Rules,” listed companies have paid a total of 5.23 trillion yuan in dividends and buybacks, setting a record high, while 88 companies have smoothly delisted.

Key Point 3: For enterprises with breakthroughs in key core technologies, implement pre-IPO review on the GEM.

Wu Qing indicated that new measures to deepen GEM reform will be introduced soon. The overall goal is to further highlight the GEM’s functional positioning and better support the high-quality development of the real economy, including emerging and future industries.

First, expand the inclusiveness and coverage of the system by adding more precise and inclusive listing standards, supporting the development of new industries, new business forms, and new technologies. Actively support high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises in new consumption and modern service sectors to issue and list on the GEM.

Second, replicate and promote beneficial experiences from the Sci-Tech Innovation Board reform to the GEM. This includes implementing pre-IPO review for high-quality innovative enterprises, especially those with breakthroughs in key core technologies, allowing qualified companies to increase capital from existing shareholders, and optimizing IPO pricing reforms.

Third, comprehensively improve the quality of GEM-listed companies by establishing and improving systems from recommendation, review, to full-process regulation, better serving local and private economic development.

“The overall plan for GEM reform is nearly finalized and will be announced and implemented at an appropriate time,” Wu Qing said.

Key Point 4: Refinancing mechanisms should emphasize supporting excellent and innovative companies.

Wu Qing pointed out that another new measure to be introduced is the optimization of refinancing mechanisms. “Refinancing is an important system to support listed companies in becoming stronger and fostering innovative capital and momentum, as well as a key function of the capital market.”

Wu Qing said that further improvements will be made at the institutional and regulatory level to streamline refinancing review and registration processes, focusing on increasing convenience.

First, enhance the inclusiveness and adaptability of rules, including optimizing the recognition standards for strategic investors, facilitating participation by long-term funds like social security, insurance, and public funds; introducing shelf issuance to guide rational and effective financing; improving fixed-price private placements to align with market prices, better balancing interests between companies and investors; further simplifying refinancing procedures, and more.

Second, reinforce the “support for excellence and innovation” orientation. For high-quality companies with good governance and market recognition, significantly improve review efficiency. Extend the “light-asset, high R&D investment” standards from the Sci-Tech Innovation Board and GEM to the main board, implement measures such as relaxing refinancing limits for R&D, and shorten refinancing intervals to better support innovative tech companies.

Third, strengthen supervision of refinancing activities. Enhance oversight from pre-disclosure, application, review, to fund use, increase law enforcement efforts, and strictly punish illegal behaviors like misleading refinancing, unauthorized use of funds, and other violations, to protect investors’ legitimate rights.

Wu Qing also emphasized that the process will be gradual, prioritizing quality, and ensuring strict entry control, holding intermediaries accountable, and preventing “sick applications” and herd behavior, to better coordinate investment and financing development.

Key Point 5: Actively support leading securities firms to grow stronger and larger, adhering to the public fund nature.

Wu Qing summarized the focus on industry institutions such as securities firms, public funds, and private funds.

For securities firms, efforts include revising and implementing new regulations, supporting top-tier firms to grow stronger and larger, and promoting differentiated development among small and medium-sized firms to improve governance, internal controls, service quality, and strategic positioning.

For public funds, deepen reforms, guide them to adhere to long-term and professional principles, and uphold the public fund nature, always prioritizing investors’ interests.

For private funds, improve the “1+N+X” regulatory framework, strengthen rules on access, fundraising, custody, and disclosure, and crack down on illegal activities like illegal fundraising, misappropriation, self-dealing, and benefit transfer, promoting industry regulation and development.

Key Point 6: Enable the capital market to serve industrial transformation and high-quality development with new “accelerations.”

Wu Qing said that in recent years, the new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation has accelerated globally, prompting major markets to reform proactively to adapt to innovation trends.

“From China’s perspective, whether it’s cultivating emerging industries, planning for future industries, or innovating and greening traditional industries through digital transformation, the capital market must further play its role, accelerating the integration of technological and industrial innovation,” Wu Qing explained.

He further pointed out that the development of new productive forces will support higher-quality market development and bring better, sustained returns for investors.

“Next, we will leverage existing policies and new reforms more effectively, promote capital formation through multiple channels, and channel resources into new productive sectors, enabling the capital market to serve industrial transformation and high-quality development with new ‘speeds.’”

Key Point 7: Deepen regulation of high-frequency quantitative trading and introduce derivative trading supervision measures.

On risk prevention and regulation, Wu Qing emphasized that enforcement and investor protection will be more powerful and effective. “This is our core function, which cannot be weakened, only strengthened.”

Regarding data, Wu Qing said that over the past two years since the issuance of the new “National Nine Rules,” efforts have focused on cracking down on major, malicious, and key violations, with 1,130 securities and futures violations investigated and 30.8 billion yuan in fines and confiscations, reaching record highs.

“Experience has proven that promoting high-quality development on the basis of risk prevention and strong regulation is entirely correct. Without effective, orderly, and robust risk prevention and regulation, the current stable and healthy market situation would not be possible,” Wu Qing stated.

He also revealed future regulatory ideas for new business types: first, emphasize fairness and deepen regulation of high-frequency quantitative trading; second, introduce derivative trading supervision measures to support legitimate risk management and limit excessive speculation; third, strengthen regulation of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, strictly prohibit domestic activities and tightly regulate offshore ones, and establish comprehensive rules for crypto asset supervision, cracking down on illegal activities under the guise of RWA or speculative manipulation.

Key Point 8: Firmly eliminate the “ecosystem” of financial fraud.

In response to journalists, Wu Qing elaborated on efforts to combat financial fraud.

Wu Qing said that financial fraud is a “malignant tumor” eroding the foundation of the capital market. With strong support from all parties, last year accelerated efforts to build a comprehensive system for punishing and preventing financial fraud, resulting in 16 delistings due to serious fraud, far exceeding previous years.

“Next, we will further strengthen market discipline and improve enforcement through multiple measures,” Wu Qing said. “On one hand, we will reinforce governance and prevention, promote the issuance of regulations on listed company supervision, implement newly revised corporate governance standards, strengthen supervision of sponsors, and accelerate the construction of a fraud detection and early warning system with third-party cooperation.”

On the other hand, he emphasized strict punishment for fraud, increasing investigations into financial misconduct, cracking down on third-party collusion, enforcing delisting for fraudulent companies, and resolutely clearing out “bad apples” to eliminate the financial fraud “ecosystem.”

Key Point 9: Strictly investigate and punish behaviors such as hype, concept speculation, and manipulation that harm investors’ interests.

On investor protection, Wu Qing said efforts will be made to tighten the “safety net” for safeguarding investors’ legitimate rights.

First, improve channels for investor rights protection and dispute resolution, establish diversified dispute resolution pathways, and promote typical cases of class actions and pre-compensation.

Second, regulate behaviors of listed companies, major shareholders, actual controllers, and intermediaries, strictly investigate and punish behaviors like hype, concept speculation, and manipulation, so that the market can more genuinely feel fairness and justice, making law-abiding and trustworthy conduct a shared goal among market participants.

Key Point 10: The attractiveness of “Chinese assets” has significantly increased.

On opening-up, Wu Qing said that efforts will be made to advance opening-up to a deeper and higher level. Currently, international investors’ asset allocation needs are increasingly diverse, and the attractiveness of “Chinese assets” has risen markedly.

“We will focus on creating a first-class market-oriented, rule-of-law, and internationalized business environment, improving cross-border investment and financing convenience, and further advancing two-way opening in markets, products, services, and institutions, to build a more transparent, stable, and predictable market environment,” Wu Qing stated.

He also mentioned that China will actively participate in international financial governance reforms, strengthen cross-border regulatory cooperation, and continuously improve regulatory and risk prevention capabilities under open conditions.

(Article source: The Surging News)