Gov. Sides with Carriers Against China Post

The struggle within China’s government over the fate of foreign express delivery companies is spilling into public view, as the foreign trade ministry turns to the media to argue its case against the postal service. China Post believes that it has the exclusive right to deliver letters and parcels in China, and has tried to enforce that right by disrupting the operations of its foreign and local competitors – particularly in the lucrative express delivery field. But the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation [MOFTEC], which licenses the foreign companies in that field, has taken a dim view of those efforts, and is negotiating with the State Council on their behalf. With a series of articles in its official newspaper, it has also begun to publicly pressure China Post.” Batson states, “MOFTEC’s principled stand for law and order, and against national monopolies, has played surprisingly well in the local media