China will reform those intermediary agencies engaged in helping people leave China in a bid to deal with the current chaos in the sector, according to a State Council decree published Friday.

All such agencies must be examined by government officials at provincial level and approved by relevant departments of the State Council, according to Zhao Yongji, vice-minister of public security.

Zhao made these remarks Friday at a teleconference sponsored by his ministry, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

According to the meeting, these agencies must also reserve a certain amount of money ready to compensate those clients whose legitimate rights they may have violated.Those that have already been registered should apply to the relevant authorities for new business licenses.

Two more regulations on intermediary agencies and foreign employment agencies are also being drafted and will soon be promulgated.China began to simplify the procedures for citizens going abroad early this year.

This, combined with the fact that the living standard of Chinese people is greatly improving, has meant that more and more people are seeking to go abroad to study or travel, amongst other things.

The intermediary organizations that help people with the formalities involved in leaving the country are booming as a result, said Zhao.

Statistics from frontier defence authorities indicate that during the period between January and June, at least 90 million people went abroad, 15.7 percent more than the same period of last year.However, with the thriving of intermediary agencies offering border entrance and exit services, abnormal and illegal practices, such as the lack of business licenses, have emerged.

Take South China's Guangdong Province as an example. Statistics indicate that there are 737 intermediary agencies in the province, but only 444 of them have been examined and granted licenses by local trade and industry authorities.

Some organizations have been found to engage in the counterfeiting of passports and visas and in the smuggling of people abroad. Some have no permanent offices, no funds and no proper organization.

Many of these agencies have swindled exorbitant amounts of money from clients and absconded to foreign countries.

In September, the police in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, closed down a company whose staff were accused of cajoling a group of Chinese citizens into going to Brunei.

(China Daily 12/01/2000)