Premier Zhu Rongji yesterday called for greatest efforts to be made to maintain market order and create a sound environment for the country's modernization drive.

Zhu told a national conference that a campaign should be promptly launched across the country to rectify and regulate the economic order.

He said that the nation is determined to bring order to the economy and open a new chapter for the reform and opening up process.

The conference on rectifying and standardizing the order of the market economy was held in Beijing from Monday to yesterday.

According to sources attending the meeting, the move will be conducive to the stability of society and to consolidating the national economy, as well as to the improvement of Chinese companies' competitiveness on the international market.

Therefore, it is also of great political significance, the report on the meeting said.

Economic disorder includes fake commodities, tax evasion, smuggling, cheating in foreign trade and foreign currency exchanges, lack of credit and failing to live up to contracts, the sources revealed.

There has been an increase in crimes in the economic sector as well as accidents in the work place.

Although special campaigns against these illegal activities have achieved initial success, the country's market economy is still being threatened by various factors.

The campaign will be a major task for the coming five years. The focus will be on eight aspects - combating economic crimes such as counterfeit products and tax evasion, improving the construction sector, restoring financial order, strengthening discipline in the financial sector, breaking up monopolies, strengthening the supervision of work safety and rectifying intermediary organs, said the premier.

It was revealed at the meeting that a crackdown on illegal activities that are harmful to ordinary people will be the focus this year.

Such activities include the production and sale of fake foods, medicines, cotton, vehicles and agriculture materials.

There will also be punishments for illegal operators of Internet bars and electronic games saloons.

Another focus of the drive will be the cultural market, according to the sources.

China will improve its legal system, relevant regulations and law enforcement to give the crackdown campaign legal support. Any corruption involved in the law enforcement process will be punished severely, those attending the meeting vowed.

Government departments will be equipped with advanced technology, especially information technology, to improve the efficiency of administration.

(China Daily 04/05/2001)