Allow postal competition

The China Post Group Corp was formally launched yesterday, marking another step in China's postal reform.

The splitting of the corporation from the former postal system, which combined both government and business functions, will provide a reference for China's reform in other sectors that have yet to clarify the relations between government departments and their business functions, such as the railway.

For more than two decades, the government has been pushing the idea of separating the business functions from government sections. This is an integral part of the market-oriented reform shaking off the fetters of the planned economy mentality.