Chinese government to let postal system run independently – report
China is progressing with plans to convert its postal system into a 10 bln usd standalone entity, a change that would spin off one of the last businesses still run directly by the government, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a government spokesperson.
The State Council, the government’s highest administrative body, has approved of the plan which was finalized in August. The plan calls for the post office’s business operations, which use the name China Post, to be injected into a new, state-owned company, the newspaper reported.
The State Postal Bureau will continue to exist but is being changed into a purely regulatory organization, the report added.
That shift could address some of the criticisms China has faced over its handling of the market for delivering documents and parcels. The huge and fast-growing market has attracted many of the world’s big express-delivery companies, including FedEx Corp, United Parcel Service and Deutsche Post AG unit DHL.
The foreign companies that compete with China Post have long complained that the government agency also had regulatory power over them, the newspaper said.
