China plans to establish the basic framework and operational mechanism for a social credit system in around five years, a senior Chinese government official said Friday in Beijing.

Zhang Zhigang, vice minister of Commerce and director of the office of the national leading group for rectifying and regularizing market economic order, said this at a seminar on transnational business and credit management.

Zhang said the existing social credit system in developed market economies is the result of more than 100 hundred years of evolution. As China is new to the market economy, it still lacks a sound social credit system that records bad credit and punishes bad credit behaviors.

"However, to realize the target of building a well-off society in an all-round way, China needs to establish a social credit system in a relatively short time," said Zhang.

He said the government would support construction of the system by opening certain information on credit standings, promoting the concept of honest dealings in society and making relevant laws and regulations.

Meanwhile, the government will encourage intermediary agencies to participate in building the system, said Zhang.

He said the social credit system in China would cover credit standing information of enterprises, individuals and public institutions. It would be supported by a unified credit information collection, appraisal and consulting system.

Zhang said the office of the national leading group for rectifying and regularizing market economic order is coordinating construction of a social credit system in China and would produce a master plan within this year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2003)