Monopoly interests should be broken as part of an effort to build a harmonious society, says a signed article in Guangzhou Daily. An excerpt follows:

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened on Sunday in Beijing. Building a harmonious socialist society is high on the meeting's agenda. Issues concerning reform of the income distribution system, harmony indexes and the huge gap between special interest groups and the poor have aroused widespread attention.

At the same time, a piece of news about state-owned enterprises affiliated with the central government, known as central SOEs in China, has attracted much attention.

Peng Jianguo, deputy director of the research centre of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said recently that a specific plan of the central SOEs' state-owned assets management budget system will be unveiled this year, meaning that the central SOEs will no longer pocket all their 600-billion yuan (US$75 billion) profits but turn over revenues to investors.

It is known that SOEs, though owned by the public in name, monopolize the profits themselves. Enterprises' distribution of the profits themselves has resulted in unequal distribution and formed some groups of special interest.

Now, the government has initiated a reform of the income distribution system. Experts said it will benefit hundreds of millions of Chinese.

It is impractical and impossible to completely demolish the income gap over a short time. But it cannot be tolerated if the difference in income originates not from the different abilities of individuals but from the unfairness of social distribution.

The enlargement of the income gap is a result of social transformation. But some strata and groups are using their monopoly status to gain profits through unfair competition. Monopoly industries like power, transportation, telecommunications and energy are gaining from unfair competition.

Therefore, the existence of special interest groups should be reduced to bridge the gap and ensure social equalit.

(China Daily October 10, 2006)