China set up a special bureau to supervise the safety of coal mines on January 10. The State Bureau for Supervising Coalmine Safety will play a greater role in ensuring the normal production of mining enterprises, said Zhang Baoming, director of the State Administration of Coal Industry.

Both the management of coal mines and the supervision of their safety were both formerly in the hands of mining bureaus at various levels, Zhang said.

That system lacked authority and was weak in supervision, Zhang added.