We need to know exactly what commercial bribery is before we can stamp it out, says a signed article in Dazhong Daily. An excerpt follows:

The central government has listed commercial bribery as the focal point of its anti-corruption campaign for 2006.

During the just-concluded sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, commercial bribery was a hot topic for participating deputies and members.

There are reasons to expect certain achievements to be made during the coming round of anti-bribery battles.

However, no instant results are in sight given the current legal and market conditions.

In a recent interview with the media, Auditor-General Li Jinhua said it was still difficult to explicitly define commercial bribery, and further studies need to be made to differentiate it from a normal kickback.

As early as in 1993, the country included an anti-commercial bribery clause into its anti-unfair competition law.

Three years later, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce promulgated a regulation banning commercial bribery activities.

However, the two stopped short of an explicit definition of the behavior. Its ambiguity will inevitably create obstacles to relevant departments in their enforcement.

Besides, the two legal documents give several state departments the power to investigate and punish commercial bribery activities, leaving possibilities for them to mutually evade responsibilities.

As a kind of corruption in the commercial field, commercial bribery is often closely related with corruption of officialdom. It in particular runs rampant in State or monopoly sectors.

To counter commercial bribery, market action is not enough: The relations between government departments and the market should be regulated.

Also, public supervision should be introduced to reduce power and money transactions.

(China Daily March 17, 2006)