Earlier reports from Hong Kong and Taiwan newspapers said the three elite American magazines had acquired permission from Beijing to enter the Chinese mainland market in the form of monthly periodicals.

But the State Press and Publication Administration (SPPA) denied that it had approved any of the three.

All foreign publications must first acquire approval from the SPPA before being distributed in China, according to relative regulations.

But the three American magazines have not submitted any application for approval so far, so their appearance on the mainland market is illegal, an administration official told China Daily Friday.

"We have not approved any of these three American periodicals for publication in the Chinese mainland on their own or through copyright cooperation with a domestic publishing house,'' said Wang Huapeng, director of SPPA's Foreign Exchange and Cooperation Department.

If these periodicals were launched on the mainland without permission from the SPPA, punishment under the relative laws and regulations will be meted out, he said.

According to publishing regulations, violators in transgression of the law could face fines, have publications and related facilities confiscated, or even face criminal penalties for operating an illegal business.

Newsweek is reportedly planning to publish its first mainland-oriented Chinese-language magazine, some 80,000 copies, in April, which will be titled Newsweek Select.

Harvard Business Review has run even faster. It has published five issues since last October, but the periodical's status is under question.

Under current regulations, foreign newspapers or magazines are allowed to enter the Chinese mainland market through two channels.

One is through designated state-owned publication import and export companies.

The foreign publishers can also publish their books or periodicals through copyright cooperation with their Chinese counterparts.

The publishing of Harvard Business Review violated relative regulations as it took neither of the two channels but an alternative -- it used a serial number from the Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House, said Wang.

China has agreed to allow foreign investors to retail books, newspapers and periodicals in the first year of the country's WTO accession, and allow them to participate in the wholesale business in three years.

But foreign investors are not allowed to be involved in the editing and publishing of books, newspapers, periodicals and video-audio products, except through copyright cooperation.

(China Daily March 29, 2003)