A national political advisor shared his thoughts on the rat race competition prevalent among some Chinese enterprises and suggested measures to address the issue during an interview with China.org.cn on March 6.

"The essence of 'rat race competition' is often unfair competition," said Zhang Yi, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He is in Beijing to attend the ongoing third session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee.

In the government work report delivered Wednesday, Premier Li Qiang told the audience of lawmakers and political advisors that China will "take comprehensive steps to address rat race competition."

"Rat race competition can have adverse effects on enterprises, industries and even the entire economy," Zhang said. "I believe that comprehensive measures to regulate such competition, proposed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, are an important step in promoting the development of a unified national market."

Zhang has been focused on the topic for several years, conducting field surveys and research before presenting his proposals at the annual session. He observed that some firms sell below cost to dominate markets, often resulting in heavy losses — "killing 1,000 enemies at the cost of 800 or more of their own." This harms competition, industries and consumers, as these companies abuse their dominance to disrupt fair practices.

In response, he suggested strictly enforcing laws like the Anti-Monopoly Law, Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and Price Law, while strengthening fair competition reviews and enforcement oversight. Market regulators should focus on key industries, he added, starting with leading firms, to enhance enforcement supervision and compliance guidance.

He also found that leading companies pressure smaller firms in the supply chain, noting that practices like forcing component suppliers to lower prices and imposing extended payment terms to tie up funds are all part of this rat race.

"Some leading companies, in pursuit of their own interests, exploit their dominant position to squeeze upstream and downstream firms, causing or exacerbating operational difficulties and even bankruptcy risks for these businesses," he said. "If a supply chain is unhealthy, it will inevitably impact the chain itself, related industries and even the broader economy."

Zhang also mentioned the abundance of low-priced goods on e-commerce platforms. "These low-price practices often lead to low quality, harming consumer protection and failing to boost consumption. They also hurt suppliers. One consumer goods company I surveyed said they're no longer willing to invest in production, product upgrades or R&D because they're barely breaking even — or even selling at a loss. How can they find the motivation then? These practices are ultimately harmful to consumers and the economy," he said.

In response, he recommended strengthening the role of platforms in addressing rat race competition. Platforms can use big data to profile merchants, products and sales behaviors, establishing a foundation for tackling such practices. A blacklist and whitelist system should be implemented, he said, with repeat offenders of malicious low-price practices or product quality issues added to the blacklist and reported to regulators, while whitelisted merchants could receive preferential online traffic.

"E-commerce platforms should take on the responsibility by participating in comprehensive efforts to address rat race competition," he appealed.

Additionally, including such behaviors as negative factors in corporate credit ratings would discourage such practices, as companies would recognize their harm to company performance, market participation, bidding and financing, the national political advisor said.

Zhang further suggested strengthening public interest litigation by prosecutors against monopolistic and unfair rat race practices. For major industry or public concerns, prosecutors should initiate lawsuits, release typical cases and uphold a fair market environment, to demonstrate the law's punitive and deterrent role.

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