China will "unswervingly" support healthy development of private economy - vice premier

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's vice premier Liu He said on Thursday that China will "unswervingly" support the healthy development of the private economy, as well as exploring ways to alleviate pressure from rapidly rising costs on small firms, according to state media.

The government needs to increase policy transparency and predictability for small firms and protect their intellectual property rights to promote equal competition, Liu said in a written statement to a forum in Guangzhou, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

China will make better use of capital markets to help small firms grow, Liu was quoted as saying.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu and Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Toby Chopra)