China to improve social credit system

China will further improve its social credit system, Premier Li Keqiang said at a State Council executive meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting said credibility is the "foundation" of China's market economy, and tackling the lack of honesty will benefit projects like increasing employment, stimulating consumption, improving livelihood and boosting social development.

The move will help promote the decisive role of the market in allocating resources, regulating market order, reducing transaction costs, promoting government function transition and boosting employment, Li said.

The meeting mapped out guidelines to build a social credit system that promotes an honest culture in government service, business and social activities over the next six years.

It urged setting a national standard for information gathering and management to share different local credit data, to increase the transparency of the social credit system.

Enterprises shall deem honesty as a business foundation, and related lawmaking will be speeded up to support social credit progress, according to the guidelines.

The meeting stressed the difficulty of establishing a long term social credit system, which calls for integrating information of important areas like food safety, social security and the financial sector.

It demanded stricter punishments for credit failure and better promotion of credibility as a social value pursuit and behavior standard.

The meeting also passed a draft amendment to the safe production law.

The amendment requires harsher punishment for offending enterprises, government officials and stakeholders. It will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for discussion.