The report was completed recently by the Bank with the support of China's State Economic and Trade Commission, and its Chinese version is published by the China Economic and Financial Publishing House.

This WB report states that bankruptcy of state-owned and non-state enterprises has been quite common since the mid-1990s. China has gained considerable experience and enhanced the practical ability in this process, providing a solid foundation for the establishment of a better insolvency system.

The study, which was based on thorough investigations in China' s five cities and 15 bankruptcy cases in 1999, notes that several aspects of China's current bankruptcy system should be improved through reform, and it provides 29 specific policy recommendations in this regard.

One of the key recommendations proposed by the bank is an unification of existing different bankruptcy regimes for state-owned and non-state enterprises in China by introducing a new bankruptcy law in the near future.

The report gives consideration to the special difficulties of state-owned enterprises and suggests that the new law should not differentiate between state-owned and non-state enterprises.

Instead, the implementation of the law for state-owned enterprises could be delayed for a couple of years to provide time for the improvement of the social security system.

(Xinhua 03/20/2001)