The publishing industry is encouraged to expand overseas with favorable financial and tax policies from the government, a Chinese official has said.

China will organize publishing and distribution corps to increase its international competitiveness, said Liu Binjie, deputy director of the Press and Publication Administration of China.

China boasts more than 400,000 publishing enterprises and an output volume of more than 500 billion yuan (US$60.2 billion). Last year Chinese publishers put out 190,000 kinds of books, 2,100 newspapers and 9,000 magazines.

China will also amend relative laws to support its publication development, said the official.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2004)