Socialist market economic system works: Economist

China's pursuit of common wealth does not mean the country has ditched the socialist market economic system, a researcher said on Sunday.

The system has proven to be working since China embraced market-oriented reform in 1978, said Gao Peiyong, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Our pursuit of common wealth shall be rooted in the socialist market economic system, and the two topics are inseparable," he said at the Sustainable Development Forum 2021, which opened in Beijing on Sunday.

Gao said neither equalitarianism nor the overwhelming stress of efficiency over equality is desirable during the process.

To strike a balance between equality and efficiency, all aspects need to be ensured in wealth distribution and redistribution. They include fairness of opportunity, procedure and result, he said.

"This is not only beneficial to the formation of a correct view of fairness in Chinese society, but also beneficial to achieving the unity of fairness and efficiency," Gao said.

The essence of the socialist market economy is, in a word, to let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation, he said.

Gao said China should unswervingly uphold the dominant role of the public sector in promoting common prosperity and continue to promote the development of the non-public sector.

"We should allow some people to get rich first, and at the same time encourage them to work hard, operate in a legal way, create their own prosperity and help pull those left behind," he said.