The direction of capital market reform and development during the 15th Five Year Plan period has been clarified. Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, recently stated at the economic themed press conference of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress that efforts will be made to promote new improvements in the capital market in five aspects: market resilience, institutional inclusiveness and adaptability, quality of listed companies, regulation and investor protection, and opening up to the outside world. Wu Qing stated that during the 15th Five Year Plan period, we will improve the market mechanism and ecology of "long-term investment", perfect the construction of China's characteristic market stability mechanism, enrich the means and mechanisms of cross cycle and counter cycle regulation, and further enhance the inherent stability of the market. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the entry of medium and long-term funds into the market. Data shows that by the end of 2025, the total circulating market value of A-shares held by public funds, social security, insurance, annuities and other medium and long-term funds will increase by more than 50% compared to the end of the 13th Five Year Plan period; The management scale of public funds exceeded 37 trillion yuan, and the scale of equity funds exceeded 11 trillion yuan, an increase of 89% and 63% respectively compared to 2020. Yan Xiang, Chief Economist of Fangzheng Securities, analyzed that increasing the proportion of medium and long-term funds is conducive to optimizing the investor structure, cultivating value investment concepts, and playing a "stabilizer" role in market fluctuations. He expects that policies will accelerate the elimination of barriers to the entry of social security, insurance, wealth management and other funds into the market, and continue to build a long-term mechanism for the entry of funds into the market. Lu Zhe, Chief Economist of Dongwu Securities, stated that by optimizing the proportion and assessment mechanism of long-term funds entering the market and changing the "short, long, and short" fund structure, a stable "ballast stone" will be built for the market. The improvement of intrinsic market stability has laid a solid foundation for institutional innovation. Wu Qing proposed to actively develop diversified equity financing and expand channels for private equity and venture capital fund exits. By the end of 2025, the managed scale of existing private equity venture capital funds will reach 1.477 trillion yuan. Venture capital funds are invested in China, with small and medium-sized enterprises accounting for 74.05% and high-tech enterprises accounting for 49.94%. Tian Lihui, a finance professor at Nankai University, said that the smooth circulation of "fundraising, investment, management, and return" is conducive to enhancing the vitality of venture capital. He suggested building a "multi-level relay" exit channel, smoothing the IPO main channel, cultivating the private equity secondary market (S fund), and exploring innovative tools such as physical distribution of stocks. Lu Zhe believes that this move sends a signal to reshape the venture capital ecosystem, and is expected to build a more inclusive M&A exit mechanism in the future, guiding social capital to flow into strategic emerging industries. While enhancing institutional inclusiveness, it is also necessary to continuously improve the quality and investment value of listed companies. Wu Qing stated that on the basis of emphasizing the "authenticity" of listed companies, we will further enhance their "investability". He also stated that it is necessary to promote the improvement of governance level of listed companies, strengthen dividend buybacks, and continuously enhance investment value and investor returns. Data shows that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, listed companies distributed a total of 11.3 trillion yuan in "red envelopes" through dividends and repurchases, which is equivalent to 1.92 times the amount of IPOs and refinancing of stocks during the same period. Among them, 3632 new repurchase plans were disclosed, with the repurchase amount limit doubling compared to the end of the 13th Five Year Plan. From a structural perspective, by the end of 2025, the A-share technology sector will account for over 1/4 of the market value, with strategic emerging industry enterprises holding a weight of 45% in the Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 constituent stocks. National level specialized, refined, special and new "little giant" enterprises on the Beijing Stock Exchange will account for over 60%, and more than 90% of newly listed companies will be technology enterprises. Huitianfu Fund believes that the development and growth of science and technology innovation enterprises is an important foundation for the long-term healthy development of the capital market. The more and stronger the number of science and technology innovation enterprises, the stronger the vitality, attractiveness, and ability to create value for investors in the capital market. Wu Qing emphasized that regulatory enforcement is a "core function that cannot be weakened, but can only be strengthened", and will accurately and effectively crack down on vicious illegal activities such as financial fraud, market manipulation, and insider trading. Tian Lihui stated that improving the investor protection system is to establish a "foundation of confidence" for the capital market and an important manifestation of its shift from "scale oriented" to "quality oriented". He suggested consolidating the legal foundation of the independent director system at the legislative level, normalizing the operation of securities dispute representative litigation at the judicial level, and improving the diversified compensation mechanism. Yan Xiang believes that a comprehensive investor protection system should be built from multiple dimensions, with strengthened information disclosure in advance, continuous supervision during the process, and smooth channels for rights protection and compensation afterwards. Against the backdrop of continuously strengthening the institutional foundation of the domestic capital market, the process of opening up to the outside world is also steadily advancing. Wu Qing proposed that the direction will be to enhance the convenience of cross-border investment and financing, and further promote the two-way opening of markets, products, services, institutions, and other aspects to a new level. Data shows that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, 328 companies achieved overseas listings and 13 newly approved foreign-invested securities, fund, and futures institutions came to China to conduct business. As of the end of 2025, foreign investors hold A-shares with a market value of 3.66 trillion yuan, and a total of 935 overseas institutions have obtained the qualification of qualified overseas investors. Professor Lan Qingxin from the National Institute of Opening up at the University of International Business and Economics stated that promoting high-level two-way opening up can promote continuous optimization of the domestic capital market in terms of information disclosure, corporate governance, regulatory standards, etc., making the operation of the capital market more standardized and efficient. (New Society)