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China to Rectify Economic Order: Minister
Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, said Tuesday China will beef up efforts to rectify economic order so as to create a sound environment for healthy economic development.
In a report to the fourth session of the Ninth National People's Congress, the minister said China must firmly resolve to clear up the chaos currently plaguing order in the market economy.
"This is a prevalent problem in economic activities, one which not only greatly undermines the interests of the state and the people by tarnishing the credibility of the state and the image of reform and opening up, but also seriously threatens sound economic development."
There are many reasons for this chaos, including inadequate legal and regulatory footing for the market economy, lax management, ineffective supervision and poor discipline, said the minister.
He said some lawless people and corrupt government employees have been working together to cause tremendous damage.
"We must make it an important part of our economic work to rectify and standardize order in the market economy".
He said China needs to deepen reform, strengthen the legal system, tackle both the symptoms and the root causes, focus on priorities, combine rectification and development, and strive for initial results in about one year's time.
Zeng said efforts should be made to continue the fight against smuggling, fraudulent export tax rebates, evasion of foreign exchange repayment and obtaining of foreign exchange under false pretenses, and production and sale of fake and shoddy goods.
"On this basis, we will rectify the commodity, financial, capital, construction and cultural product markets in an all-round way and to standardize order in business operations."
The minister said the priorities are as follows:
-- Making a conscientious and coordinated effort to crack down on criminal activities such as the production and marketing of fake and shoddy products.
-- Intensifying the campaign specifically directed against fraudulent export tax rebates, smuggling, sale of smuggled goods, evasion of foreign exchange repayment and obtaining of foreign exchange through fraudulent means.
-- Continuing to straighten out financial order. Work should be done to severely punish financial institutions involved in business activities that violate laws and regulations, abolish all illegal financial institutions, put an end to unlawful fraudulent financial activities, and resolutely punish any party who commits financial crimes in accordance with the law.
-- Rectifying and regulating the behavior of the major players in the market. Efforts should be made to outlaw enterprises with no capital, premises and facilities and businesses operating without a license, strictly investigate and deal with enterprises and intermediary institutions engaged in illegal activities such as falsifying account books, concealing income or issuing false certificates of credit.
-- Rectifying and standardizing the construction market. Efforts should be made to implement the Public Bidding Law in real earnest, prohibit deception and the abuse of power to illegally interfere with public bidding and crack down on activities such as illegal subcontracting and contract transfer and under-the-counter operations.
-- Putting a stop to regional protectionism and market segmentation. Unfair competition should be strictly investigated and punished to break departmental monopolies and regional blockades and ensure fair competition in the market.
Departments responsible for economics and trade, finances and taxation, pricing, banking, securities regulation, foreign exchange administration, customs, industry and commerce administration, quality inspection, commodity inspection and drug administration must carry out all their duties, cooperate with each other, coordinate their efforts and strengthen management in order to obtain real results.
The minister said "Departments responsible for economic and trade affairs, finances and taxation, pricing, banking, securities regulation, foreign exchange administration, customs, industry and commerce administration, quality inspection, commodity inspection and drug administration must carry out all their duties, cooperate with each other, coordinate their efforts and strengthen management in order to obtain real results."
Rectification and standardization of order in the market economy should be accompanied by efforts to bring criminals to justice and curb corruption, he said.
"We must make breakthrough in dealing with a number of major cases that have wide implications and involve a large amount of money, heavy losses and serious negative social impact."
The principal offenders in such cases as well as habitual offenders should be severely punished in accordance with the law to deter other people from committing such crimes. Corrupt state functionaries who collude with, cover up for or otherwise aid criminals should be subjected to strict investigation and prosecution.
Zeng said effort will be intensified to strengthen the socialist legal system, establish and develop market rules and standardize the actions of government departments, enterprises and intermediary institutions.
"We will review local statutes and department regulations and rescind those that run counter to the laws and statutes of the state, promptly formulating corresponding administrative and judicial interpretations."
Work should be done in a spirit of reform in order to rectify and standardize order in the market economy, straighten out the overall system, transform the mechanism and standardize the system of credit relationships, he said.
Efforts should be made to improve supervisory and regulatory mechanisms, tighten fiscal discipline, strengthen management and supervision, plug up all loopholes and earnestly investigate and punish those guilty of fiscal discipline, he said.
Zeng said that efforts must be made to practice strict economy, combat extravagance, strengthen regulation of the prices for the products and services of monopoly industries, crack down on unlawful practices such as price fraud, continue to review all types of fees to eliminate arbitrary fees and crack down on evasion of debt repayment in accordance with the law, and strengthen the system of public supervision by establishing and improving a supervision system mainly composed of legal restrictions, government administration, press scrutiny and consumer participation.
He said the role of TV, radio, newspapers, periodicals, the Internet and other media should be brought into full play to facilitate supervision through public opinion.
The minister said it is imperative to increase people's awareness of the legal system for the market economy and the importance of maintaining good credit through a general education campaign, so that they will become fully aware of the necessity and importance of straightening out and standardizing order in the market economy.
"The State Council will soon formulate relevant laws and regulations and a decision on rectifying and standardizing order in the market economy."
"This decision will assign responsibility and define necessary measures to intensify rectification efforts in order to address the root causes of the chaos in the market economy."
Safety in production is a matter that has a direct bearing on the safety of the life and property of the general public and on the sound operation of the national economy, said the minister.
It is a must to raise people's awareness of the need for safety in production, he said, adding that efforts should be continued to put safety and prevention of accidents first.
Zeng called for efforts to improve management, enforce relevant regulations, invest more in safety facilities and do more to maintain equipment and eliminate hidden hazards.
It is important to tighten the responsibility system for safety in production, subject local authorities or organizations where major accidents occur to strict investigation and prosecution, and bring to justice any offenders and leading officials who are found responsible for accidents, said the minister.
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