How should China advance the building of a unified national market? Efforts should be made to properly handle the following relationships, said Li Yuju, deputy director of the Research Center on Xi Jinping's Economic Thought, while hosting People's Daily's "Stories of High-Quality Development."

It is necessary to properly balance the relationship between an effective market and a well-functioning government. This means clearly defining the boundaries between the government and the market and creating an economic order that combines market vitality with effective regulation. Governments at all levels should step back from areas they should not manage while working to address areas they have not managed sufficiently. Efforts should be made to better regulate local governments' economic promotion activities, create a stable, fair, and transparent business environment and let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation. This will form a market order characterized by quality-based pricing and sound competition.

It is necessary to straighten out the relationship between the central and local governments. A whole-of-nation approach is required, upholding the CPC Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership while enabling local governments to fully exert their initiative and creativity. At the central government level, efforts should be made to steadily improve fundamental market institutions, remove barriers in areas such as access to factors of production, qualification approval, bidding and tendering, and government procurement. Establishing long-term institutions and mechanisms is also crucial, as is regulating disorderly competition. Regions across the country should identify their own positioning and strengths, actively integrate into overall national development and avoid creating closed and fragmented local markets.

It is essential to properly coordinate domestic and international markets. Greater efforts should be made to remove obstacles hindering smooth domestic economic circulation and accelerate the development of a high-standard market system. It is necessary to actively advance institutional opening-up, align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, expand the influence and reach of the unified national market and take full advantage of both domestic and international markets and resources.