Eiichiro Okumoto, chairman of Japan's Securities Dealers Association, said the growth of China's economy, which was least affected by the Asian financial crisis, has drawn the world's attention. The Chinese capital market has also witnessed an unprecedented rapid development after the reform of China's state-owned enterprises and their non-performing assets, he said.

Statistics from the Securities Association of China (SAC) show that by the end of 2001, there have been 1,160 Chinese firms listed on the stock exchange with a total stock exchange value of 4.4 trillion yuan (about US$532 billion).

Okumoto said now that China has entered the World Trade Organization, its domestic capital market will play a crucial role in the process of economic internationalization and financial liberalization of Asia.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), one of China's two biggest stock exchanges, released figures calculated on the basis of the market value at the end of last year, that show the SSE ranks 13thamong the 200-strong stock exchanges in the world and the fourth in the Asian-Pacific region second only to that of Tokyo, Hong Kong and Australia.

Nie Qingping, SAC secretary-general, noted that China's security market also faces the pressure of opening-up and international cooperation that go along with the evolution of global capital flow and the internationalization of security market.

China will strive to introduce more effective supervision and build a stronger market basis to seize the opportunities brought about by the rapid development of the Asian-Pacific capital market, added Nie.

About 350 security insiders from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines attended the seminar at the joint sponsorship of the SAC, the SSE and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2002)