The Communist Party on Monday said it will support and protect entrepreneurs in the first such directive to safeguard China’s private business owners since it took power in 1949. The guideline – issued by the Central Committee and State Council – praises China’s businesspeople for boosting national economic growth, the South China Morning Post reports. “Lots of entrepreneurs… have made a great contribution to the accumulation of social wealth, to job creation, economic and social development,” the directive says.”The entrepreneurial spirit will play an important role in deepening supply-side structural reform, invigorating the market and achieving sustainable development of the economy and society.” It also promises to protect their legitimate rights and interests, ensure fair market competition and strengthen protection of intellectual property rights. Chinese economists say the directive is aimed at boosting private sector confidence in the business environment amid concerns over capital outflows and slowing investment growth, and worries about an over-reliance on spending in the state sector.