TO THE POINT: Chinese stocks plummeted nearly 7 perrcent on May 30, leading to a los of over 1 trillion yuan. The sharp drop was caused by an increase in stamp tax on stock trading, tripling the previous rate. It was considered a market correction and was right in time to kill recent stock mania around the country. The Chinese stock market rebounded the following day, showing off investors' strong expectations. The Shanghai Stock Exchange stated China is preparing for overseas-listed Chinese companies and international blue chips to be listed on the mainland. The Chinese oil giant Sinopec survived the drop, as it had discovered a new oil field and was expected to generate more profits for its shareholders. Apart from exploring more oil and other traditional energy sources, China is also devoted to developing nuclear power. Government officials disclosed that domestic private companies and foreign companies will be allowed to invest in Chinese nuclear power plants, but didn't give an exact timetable. Private companies have performed well in China and their fixed asset investment accounts for 56 percent of the nation's total.

By LIU YUNYUN

Non-public Economy Performs Well

The non-public economy, or the private economy, is booming and outperformed the average national economic development level, according to a recent conference held by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), which concluded that the non-public economy has remained a major driver for the economic development of China.

By the end of March 2007, the number of registered private-owned enterprises and individual businesses had reached 3.088 million.

According to ACFIC statistics, a total of 117.76 million Chinese residents are working in the private sector. This figure doesn't count those who are not registered.

In the first four months, fixed assets investment from non-state enterprises reached 1.2737 trillion yuan, accounting for 56.4 percent of all fixed asset investment. It increased 33.2 percent compared with that of the same period last year, 7.7 percentage points higher than the average level for the country.

Private enterprises are active participants in foreign trade. In the first quarter, the total import and export value conducted by private enterprises surmounted $66.3 billion, a sharp increase of 44 percent from a year earlier.

Nuclear Power Industry Further Opened

Domestic private and foreign companies will be allowed to invest in China's nuclear power plants, said Wang Yiren, a senior official with the State Commission of Science and Technology for the National Defense Industry.

Meanwhile, the nuclear fuel sector, which is closed to private and foreign companies, will also open, at least to some extent, in the future, according to the commission.

However, private and foreign companies cannot hold a controlling stake in joint ventures.

Wang said China is revising the draft nuclear energy law and the country is keen on boosting development of the nuclear power industry.

Currently, there are 10 commercial nuclear power generating units in China, with combined installed capacity that stands at 8 million kw.

According to China's longer-term development plan for the nuclear power industry, the country's nuclear power capacity will increase to 40 million kw in 2020, with construction work beginning on at least three nuclear power generating units in each of the coming 10 years.

According to Wang, China's nuclear industry generated 54.8 billion kwh of electricity last year, less than 2 percent of the nation's total.

Dr. John Rutledge, a former U.S. presidential financial advisor, applauded China's dedication to nuclear power development, and said he believes it will ease the energy tension in the world.

The Bull Stops Here?

May 30 was probably the gloomiest day around the normally bullish Chinese stock markets, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plummeting almost 7 percent to 4053 points-the biggest drop after February 27 when the index nosedived 9 percent.

The drastic fall was caused by a tripling of stamp tax-from 1 percent to 3 percent. The Ministry of Finance announced the news on May 30. The ministry said the tax is applied to selling and buying of both yuan-denominated A shares and the foreign currency-denominated B shares in the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses. Meanwhile, shares from inheritance and endowment are also subject to the stamp tax.