On May 14, 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) officially issued the “Special Action Plan to Remove Bottlenecks and Barriers Hindering a Unified National Market and Fair Competition,” launching a nationwide campaign from May to December targeting prominent issues such as local protectionism, regional barriers, industry monopolies, and algorithm abuse to accelerate the development of a unified national market. Centered on the “Four Batches” core objectives—investigating major monopoly cases, abolishing local protectionist policies, exposing typical violations, and introducing long-term regulatory systems—the campaign focuses on four key areas. The policy comes amid persistent market fragmentation in China: some local governments maintain hidden entry barriers and differential regulations to protect local businesses; the “winner-takes-all” dynamic in the platform economy has intensified, with frequent monopolistic practices pressuring small and medium-sized enterprises; and inefficient factor circulation hinders optimal resource allocation. Markets expect the campaign to deliver significant policy dividends: reducing cross-regional goods circulation costs and standardizing industry order in the short term, and forming a super-scale market advantage in the medium to long term. Analysts note that implementation requires navigating local interest conflicts and strengthening supervision and inspections to ensure tangible results and lay the groundwork for a high-level socialist market economy.