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The central government has issued a circular that officials at county level can play the stock market in their spare time. The decision smashed an eight-year-old ban that forbids government officials to touch stocks.
The ban was imposed in 1993, two years after the Chinese stock market came into being, aiming to prevent officials from taking advantage of their power to cash in on the fledgling market.
However, this measure did not dampen officials' enthusiasm to put their money into the stock market. More and more government staff have started to buy shares in the past years as the stock market matures and proves lucrative.
The government's worry that allowing officials to buy stocks would affect their work has proved meaningless as the advanced transaction means of the stock market have enabled officials to buy and sell stocks without having to leave the office.
On the contrary, their investments have added steam to the prosperity of the market.
Although the existence of irregularities on the stock market is not fresh news, officials engaging in illegal stock deals was very rare.
The government's decision to legalize their access to the stock market accords with present trends.
In a law-ruled economy, the right to invest in the stock market, a basic right even of officials, should be respected.
All investors are equal in a market ruled by law. Should officials violate market rules, they will get punished like everyone else.
An arbitrary ban would do little to help the government's efforts to deter corruption. Improving supervision over the market should be the way the government chooses to improve market order.
The government should strengthen its supervision of its officials rather than restrict their investment opportunities.
What is heartening is that the government seems to have realized this.
Last month, it issued a circular to forbid spouses and children of officials at provincial and prefectural levels to do business with agencies under the officials' jurisdiction.
This ban contrasts sharply with the recent removal of the old ban on officials trading stocks. But the motives behind the two decisions are the same: the government is doing what it should do to keep market order.
(China Daily 04/28/2001)
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