Launching of High-Tech Board to Be DelayedThe establishment of China's long-awaited second-board market has been put off for further preparations."We will launch the second-board market at an appropriate time, but we have not set the definite timetable for it," said Zhou Xiaochuan, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's top securities market watchdog. He made the remarks while answering inquiries from Hong Kong deputies attending the ongoing session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC). Zhou attributed the delay to the negative influence of emerging instability in the new economy all over the world. "The determination of top policy-makers to set up the second-board market has been affected by the changes," Zhou said. The chairman said worries about high risks from and in the new high-tech sector have led to further debate on whether the country is really ready to launch a high-tech board. Shenzhen has been making preparations for the second-board market every since the idea of spurring the development of high-tech firms through venture capital was raised at the National Science and Technology Conference in 1999, according to Zhou. "But there are still doubts about whether the time is ripe and whether we can launch it with confidence," he acknowledged. "So we need more careful and far-sighted preparations," Zhou added. |
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