Clearing bureau of suspicion

A local office of the Beijing municipal bureau for industry and commerce has been in the news these days because it is accused of letting employees of the e-retail giant Jingdong work with officials in their office building.

The administration explained to the media that the company employees were there to help officials handle customers' complaints and answer the public's queries about e-shopping. Jingdong also rushed to clarify that their employees never assumed any official responsibilities.

However, the invitation of company staff to join the officials in their offices appears fishy, even if the company employees were there to help. A key role of the bureau is to supervise companies such as Jingdong. Therefore bringing the supervised under its own roof is, at best, improper.