China Council Approves Plans To Spin Off Its Postal System
BEIJING -- China is moving forward with a plan to turn its postal system into a $10 billion standalone company, a change that would spin off one of the last businesses still run directly by the government.
The State Council, the government's highest administrative body, published a document this week detailing its approval 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 State Postal Bureau will continue to exist but is being changed into a purely regulatory organization.
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 Inc. 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 planned change could be a step toward a more independent regulator and a more level playing field for those foreign companies -- although foreign executives also have expressed concerns about separate, proposed legislation that they say could further entrench China Post's market dominance.
China Post carried 7.35 billion letters and 95.3 million parcels in 2005, earning revenue of 57.72 billion yuan, or $7.3 billion, an 8.1% increase over the previous year. The new company's other businesses will include the distribution of newspapers and magazines and the issuance of postage stamps. China Post Group will have registered capital of 80 billion yuan, or about $10 billion at current exchange rates.
The new company also will incorporate the post office's savings operations, which are undergoing a separate restructuring to become a full-fledged bank that also makes loans. The postal-savings bureau's 1.3 trillion yuan in deposits would make it China's fifth-largest bank.
China has over the past decade or so taken the government bureaus that once provided other essential services such as telecommunications and electricity and turned them into commercial companies. Several of them now trade on overseas stock exchanges. The State Council document didn't mention whether the new postal group would seek outside investors.
中国计划成立邮政集团公司
中国将推进一项改革计划，在原邮政系统基础上组建一家注册资金达100亿美元的独立公司，这标志着在中国政府仍直接经营的最后一批企业中，又将有一家将被剥离出来。
国务院本周公布了一份对于此项计划的具体批复文件。根据这项在8月份确定的计划，中国邮政的经营性业务将被注入到一家新成立的国有独资企业中。原国家邮政局将继续存在，但将转变成一家纯粹的监管机构。
中国对邮件包裹递送市场的管理方式曾遭到外界的抨击。此次改革也许能从一定程度上消除这种批评的声音。中国快递市场吸引了包括联邦快递集团(FedEx Corp.)、联合包裹运送服务公司(United Parcel Services)和Deutsche Post AG旗下DHL等全球各大快递巨头。不过这些外国企业也一直在抱怨，中国邮政在市场竞争中既是运动员也是裁判员。
通过此次改革，中国将朝着建立更为独立的监管机构、为外国企业创造更为公平的竞争环境向前迈进一步，不过外国企业的管理人士也对独立的立法监管表达了担忧，他们认为这可能会进一步加强中国邮政的市场垄断地位。
中国邮政2005年共处理邮件73.5亿封、包裹9,530万件，收入人民币577.2亿元（合73亿美元），较上年增长了8.1%。新成立的集团业务范围还将包括报刊发行、邮票发行等。中国邮政集团公司注册资金为人民币800亿元，按目前汇率计算约合100亿美元。
新的邮政集团还将经营邮政储蓄业务，目前这项业务正在单独进行重组，以期成为一家兼具放贷功能、经营项目齐备的银行。邮政储蓄共吸纳存款人民币1.3万亿元，有望成为中国第五大银行。
在过去10多年时间里，中国对那些提供电信、电力等基础服务的政府部门进行了改革，把它们逐渐转变成为了经营性企业。
Andrew Batson
