China would seek to introduce more competition into its railway and postal systems, possibly by allowing private firms to access centrally administered infrastructure, said Jia Kang, chairman of the Institute of Fiscal Science under the Ministry of Finance.

As models for possible reforms, Jia cited changes to the power system where private operators now sell electricity to China's central grid and also referred to the US Postal Service (USPS), where private package and courier operations co-exist with the monopoly letter carrier.

He did not provide further details on what new reforms were being considered.

Reforms of the railway and postal services have been progressing at a slower pace than the restructuring of China's other State monopoly and former monopoly sectors, such as aviation, communications, electricity and oil marketing.

China's State Postal Bureau is currently both the regulator and dominant player in the country's mail delivery market. The railway sector, one of a select number of industries that remain government monopolies, is regulated by the Ministry of Railways.

The restructuring of postal services has also been contentious in Europe and the America, where unionized State-run or State-linked agencies have long enjoyed monopoly advantages.

The European Union is moving to remove the monopolies of postal services as part of an effort to liberalize services on the continent, meeting heavy opposition from carriers such as Deutsche Post.

(China Daily March 24, 2005)